Flash appeal: Madagascar – Grand Sud and Grand-Sud-est, January – December 2023 (Revised in March 2024)
Crisis Overview
Some 3.86 million people are in need of urgent humanitarian assistance in Madagascar in 2024, following devastating cyclones in the Grand Sud-Est (Vatovavy, Fitovinany and Atsimo Atsinanana regions) in 2022 and 2023 and the catastrophic drought in the Grand Sud (Atsimo Andrefana, Androy and Anosy regions) from 2020 to 2022.
On 21 February 2023, the Grand Sud-Est region was hit by Tropical Cyclone Freddy. Although it weakened at landfall, Cyclone Freddy brought devastating winds, mainly to Vatovavy region, resulting in seven deaths and destruction and damage to houses, schools and health centers, according to the National Disaster Risk Management Office (BNGRC). The multi-sectoral rapid assessment identified 31 communes significantly affected by the winds, with 15 classified as having serious impacts (between 25-50 per cent) and 16 as worrying (between 10-25 per cent).
About 226,000 people were affected by Freddy’s landfall, in communities still reeling from the devastating effects of last year’s Tropical Cyclones Batsirai and Emnati. Major crop losses were recorded in the Grand Sud-Est in June 2022 (up to 65 per cent losses of food crops and 80 per cent for cash crops) and this was compounded by Tropical Cyclone Freddy, which destroyed crops and fruit-bearing trees serving as replacement foods during the lean season (February – May).
Even prior to Freddy’s landfall, almost all districts in the Grand Sud-Est were facing rising food insecurity and malnutrition. All districts in the region are currently in Crisis food insecurity (IPC Phase 3), with approximately 95,000 people in Emergency (IPC4), according to the latest Integrated Phase Classification (IPC) analysis.1
Malnutrition has risen in the Grand Sud-Est, with 6 out of 12 districts in Crisis during the peak of the lean season (February-May 2023), according to the IPC. The nutritional situation in the Atsimo Atsinanana region, in particular, is deeply concerning: out of the five districts in this region, one (Befotaka) is in a critical (or emergency) situation with a global malnutrition (GAM) rate above 15 per cent, two (Farafangana and Midongy) are in a severe situation (GAM between 10 and 15 per cent), and two (Vangaindrano and Vondrozo) are in an alert situation (GAM between 5 and 10 per cent). The situation in Vatovavy also presents a district in nutritional emergency (Ikongo) and another one severe (Manakara). Pregnant teenage girls are at heightened risk of malnutrition and this, in turn, means they are much more likely to give birth to a malnourished baby, perpetuating a cycle of intergenerational poverty.
Meanwhile, in the Grand Sud, the situation has improved but remains extremely fragile. Following a massive scale-up in humanitarian assistance and relatively good rainfall in 2022, crops have increased and food insecurity has decreased. No district in the Grand Sud is classified as Emergency (IPC Phase 4) from November 2022 to March 2023. However, at least 1.35 million people are expected to face high acute food insecurity (IPC Phase 3 or worse) during the peak of the lean season (February to May 2023), including over 157,300 people n Emergency (IPC Phase 4). In five districts, more than half of the people are in Crisis or worse (Bekily – 65 per cent; Ampanihy – 55 per cent; Ambovombe, Amboasary and Befotaka – 50 per cent). This is higher than during the same period from 2017 to 2020 and is exceeded only by the levels of severe food insecurity seen during the peak of the catastrophic drought of 2021 to 2022.
The water, hygiene and sanitation situation in both the Grand Sud and Grand Sud-Est is precarious. In the Grand Sud-Est, Tropical Cyclone Freddy left over 27,800 people in need of urgent WASH assistance, especially in Mananjary and Nosy Varika. Open defecation in both regions continues to be a critical sanitation issue, especially in Ikongo, Mananjary, Nosy Varika, Befotaka, Vohipeno, in the Grand Sud-Est and Ampanihy, Bekily, and Betioky, in the Grand Sud.
The cyclones in the Grand Sud-Est and drought in the Grand Sud have constrained access to healthcare, including sexual and reproductive health for women and girls. In the Grand Sud-Est, the passage of Tropical Cyclone Freddy in Vatovavy region left 23 health centres roofless, and affected health access for about 117,000 people, including 56,500 pregnant and lactating women, children under 5, and people with disabilities. The prevalence of childhood illnesses is high, with rates of 1.3-8.9 per cent for diarrhoea, 1.8-16.4 per cent for acute respiratory infections (ARIs), and 5.4-22.4 per cent for malaria, according to the Grand Sud-Est.2 Health centre facilitated childbirths also remain low and immunization rates are 67 per cent (well below the 95 per cent target), according to DHIS2. This low immunization coverage significantly heightens the risk of new communicable disease outbreaks, including measles and polio. In the Grand Sud and Grand Sud-Est, outpatient consultations decreased from 32 per cent in the second quarter to 26 per cent in the third quarter of 2022, both lower than in the same period of 2021.3,
Meanwhile, the back-to-back crises have increased women and girls’ exposure to gender-based violence and gender inequality. Gender inequality, early marriage, sexual exploitation, denial of opportunities and resources and domestic violence are all present in the Grand Sud-Est and Grand Sud. The crises have reinforced gender inequality and caused women and girls to resort to negative survival mechanisms, including transactional sex. Community and clan traditions hinder the identification of, and response to, cases of gender-based violence, despite the law having passed at the end of 2019 improving emergency services on health, psychosocial support and access to justice.
Children face heightened risks due to the crises. In the Grand Sud, child labour, child marriage and sexual violence (sexual abuse, sexual exploitation) are the three main child protection issues, according to a rapid protection assessment. Even prior to the crises, regions in both the Grand Sud-Est and Grand Sud had child marriage rates well-above the national-average (37 per cent), including in Atsimo Atsinanana (59 per cent), Atsimo Andrefana (58 per cent), Androy (55 per cent), and Anosy (45 per cent)4 . Child labour has increased as families’ desperation has grown, including informal “money-making” activities (selling water, petty trade, begging, herding zebus) and the sexual exploitation of children. Household migration as a means of survival has increased the risk of separation for children.
Children’s education has also been severely impacted. In the Grand Sud-Est, deteriorating food security following Batsirai and Emnati has increased the risk of school failure and dropouts, while Freddy has affected around 70,272 school-going children, with 672 classrooms destroyed and another 654 classrooms with destroyed roofing. In the Grand Sud, school dropout rates for children and adolescents are among the highest in Madagascar, and more than double the national average (16.5 per cent versus 7.7 per cent in 2020). At a time when families are facing other pressing and life-threatening needs, education has tended not to be prioritized, impeding children’s learning and hampering their ability to re-enrol after disasters.
From reliefweb.int.
