Suffering in Silence Volume 5 - Madagascar

This event is the fifth in a ten-part series, which will shine a light on the "ten most under-reported humanitarian crises in 2020". In cooperation with CARE Germany e.V., the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom invites you to reflect on the current crisis in Madagascar, where three quarters of the population (or around 20 million people) live under the poverty line.

Madagascar is blessed with a wealth of natural resources including vanilla, cloves, titanium, cobalt and nickel, and a tourism industry driven by its unique environment. Over 90 percent of its wildlife is found nowhere else on earth. However, the country is also severely affected by climate change; experiencing recurrent, protracted droughts, and an average of 1.5 cyclones per year – the highest rate in Africa. Additionally, due to its low vaccination rates and poor sanitation and hygiene, Madagascar is regularly hit by epidemics.

In the south of the country, the effects of prolonged drought and COVID-19 have worsened food insecurity, putting close to 120,000 children under the age of five at risk of acute malnutrition, with close to 20,000 at risk of starvation. Pre-pandemic, Malagasy children had the fourth highest rate of chronic malnutrition in the world, with almost every other child under the age of five suffering from stunting. Maternal mortality rates were also among the highest in the world, while Madagascar ranks in the bottom four countries on the African continent in terms of access to clean drinking water. With trade and tourism having been disrupted by the COVID-19 crisis, economic growth is expected to fall to 1.2 percent, compared to the rate of 5.2 percent predicted prior to the outbreak.

What is the political and historical setting of this crisis? What is the humanitarian crisis on the ground? Why does the (western) media hardly cover it? What possible solutions are there?
We hereby invite you to examine and ask these questions in conversation with international experts.