Madagascar is the fifth largest island in the world with a surface area of 587,401 km 2 and a population of around 29 million. The island is located in the Indian Ocean off the coast of southern Africa, separated geographically by the Mozambique Channel. The capital of Madagascar is Antananarivo and the country's official languages are Malagasy and French. Madagascar falls into the category of 'low income country' with a poverty rate of around 81% and 75% of the population living on less than USD 2 per day (WB, 2021).
The island is considered a 'low development country' according to the Human Development Index (HDI 2021), placing it 173rd out of a total of 191 countries. This index is measured by life expectancy, access to education and a decent standard of living, which correspond to 66 years of life expectancy and 8.7 years of education respectively (UNDP,2021).
During this period, Madagascar is facing multiple and serious humanitarian crises, including epidemics, cyclones
floods and prolonged droughts affecting 9 million people. These conditions are
exacerbated by climate change that further exacerbates Madagascar's systemic weakness through increasingly unmanageable natural disasters (UNICEF, 2023). Proper and adequate nutrition is a major problem in the country. Suffice it to say that in 2022, Madagascar was ranked 119th out of 121 countries in the "alarming" category with respect to hunger. (Global Hunger Index).
Madagascar ranks 10th in the world among countries most affected by chronic malnutrition chronic malnutrition in 2021 and 7th in Africa. The percentage of individuals affected by malnutrition in Madagascar remains above the high threshold of 30% set by the WHO and the United Nations. Currently 815,000 individuals are in need of health care, 965,000 people are in food insecurity and 1.9 million people do not have access to safe drinking water. (UNICEF, 2023). As one of the poorest countries in the world, it faces problems related to a struggling or underdeveloped economy, a low Human Development Index (HDI) and a reduced quality of life. Problems related to poor economic health include lower than average life expectancy, high infant mortality rates, poor educational attainment, substandard infrastructure, degraded environmental and climatic conditions and inadequate healthcare systems, as well as high rates of malnutrition, diseases and infections due to a lack of clean water, low levels of hygiene and inadequate access to quality medical care.
NutriAid has been present in the country since 2010 with projects to strengthen the system for the treatment and prevention of child malnutrition and health care.
Active in the south-east of the island, in particular at the Vohipeno hospital and the nutritional center in Ifatzy, and later in the capital Antananarivo, projects to strengthen the school system through educational support and the integration of the canteen, as well as contributing to the community on malnutrition and good dietary practices, are still ongoing.
Launched in 2022 and still ongoing is the coronavirus emergency project aimed at ensuring the good health of children through prevention of endemic and epidemic diseases, supervision of vaccination coverage and improvement of household food security.
