The UN, which estimates that the famine hitting Madagascar is the first due to man-made global warming, on Friday called for more funds from donors to help 1.3 million people in the south of the country. Isle.
The financial needs have tripled, and it is now $ 231 million by May, of which only 120 million has so far been provided by donors, said Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the Office for the Coordination of humanitarian affairs (Ocha) during the regular UN press briefing in Geneva.
Read also The famine in Madagascar is the first caused by man-made global warming, according to the UN
Jens Laerke indicated that "
technically famine has not yet been declared
" in Madagascar because all the UN criteria have not yet been met but, he insisted, "
there are already 28,000 people who suffer from conditions similar to starvation
”.
The additional funds - initially the UN requested $ 76 million - are essential to provide food, water, sanitation services to nearly 1.3 million people in the Deep South, where the worst drought in 40 years has made it virtually impossible. for people to grow their own food.
Read also Amnesty calls for emergency aid in Madagascar in the face of drought
"
The situation is critical and the forecast in terms of rainfall is not good,
" said Minister of Environment and Sustainable Development Baomiavotse Vahinala Raharinirina in an interview with AFP in early November.
"
Desertification, the temperature of 45 ° C throughout the year, the lack of water, the women who now travel 20 km to fetch a container of water, these are realities,
" he said. -she underlined, evoking the undernutrition, the risks of death, and the diseases caused by the inability for the inhabitants to drink enough.
"
For ten years this famine has been there regularly, and for four years, it has been every year and it is intensifying
".
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