Nine new visas have been provided to our staff thanks to the actions of the authorities. This will allow us to continue our food distributions and treatment of malnourished patients in the districts of Amboasary and Ambovombe.
MSF expresses its thanks to the Malagasy authorities, especially the President’s office, for their provision of new visas for the organisation’s international personnel. This brings to an end a situation of blockage that the organisation had found itself in for the past weeks. On August 12, MSF had announced that we would be forced to close our activities in the context of the nutritional crisis that is affecting the south of the island unless authorisation was provided to our international staff to access the country. Since the beginning of July the Malagasy government has reinforced the closure of its frontiers in the face of the threat of the Delta variant. Only certain categories of foreigners are permitted to enter the country, but humanitarian workers are not covered by these exceptions.
This situation is now resolved as nine new visas have been provided to our staff thanks to the actions of the authorities. This will allow us to continue our food distributions and treatment of malnourished patients in the districts of Amboasary and Ambovombe.
The south of the island has been experiencing a large nutritional crisis since the end of 2020. A new deterioration of the situation is expected in October, when people’s stocks from the last harvests will begin to run out but the new crops will not yet be ready for harvesting. MSF is now confident that the Malagasy authorities will respond positively, as they have just done, to our demands for the exceptional permission for our personnel to access their territory. This will allow us to continue treating patients affected by acute malnutrition and distribute food the 1.3 million people who are currently living in a critical situation.
People in southern Madagascar are experiencing an exceptionally acute food and nutrition crisis that is leaving thousands of children severely ill and pushing entire families into extreme poverty.
Since March 2021, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) emergency teams have been setting up more and more mobile clinics to deliver humanitarian and medical assistance in several districts across the region. They have been distributing food and opened an inpatient therapeutic feeding centre in the hospital in the town of Ambovombe. MSF teams are also working to improve access to clean water by distributing water, repairing existing hand pump installations and constructing new ones where needed.
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Mdecins sans frontires (MSF).
© Press Release 2021
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