A historic drought and sandstorms have affected agriculture and the collateral effects of COVID-19 on the socio-economic structure have added to the chronic food fragility and underdevelopment in the South. These factors have plunged the region into a catastrophic humanitarian situation since late 2020. In response, government agencies and humanitarian organizations, including MSF, increased its assistance to address acute malnutrition and increase emergency food aid for the 1.3 million people affected. Since March, MSF provided critical medical care to 6,000 malnourished children across 20 localities in Amboasary and Ambovombe districts.

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) will be forced to stop its medical activities at the beginning of September at a time of an exceptional, severe food and nutrition crisis in southern Madagascar because international staff are being denied entry visas. With the threat of the Delta variant, since July, the government is no longer granting MSF special access for aid workers, so without human resources MSF will not be able to maintain its activities.

MSF asks the Malagasy authorities to urgently grant entry visas and not put at risk the closure of these medical activities which employ 150 Malagasy staff.