I believe
Madagascar’s most challenging task in the 21st century is fighting poverty.
Madagascar is one of the poorest countries in the world. According to UNICEF,
in Madagascar, “90 percent of the
population lives on less than $2 a day. More than 3 out of 4 children on this
tropical island live in extreme poverty.”
Poverty creates tremendous obstacles for Malagasy people, especially for
women and children. This country has one of the world’s highest childhood
malnutrition rates—about 50% of Malagasy children are chronically malnourished.
It is extremely difficult for these children to reach their full mental and
physical potential because of scarce food resources, poor food quality and
maternal nutrition, bad feeding practices and so on.
Pregnant women
seem to face no better health situation—only 44% of all women in Madagascar
give birth with the support of a skilled birth attendant. What’s worse, 1 in
every 43 women faces a lifetime risk of maternal death. In Madagascar, majority
of the population lives in hard-to-reach rural areas, where their
transportation infrastructure gets destructed by cyclones every year. 40% of
the population is completely cut off from heath facilities and other basic
services. This creates huge challenge
for pregnant women, since many clinics and hospitals are located far from many
rural villages, and the poor transportation system would very likely to cause
delays in getting pregnant women the care they urgently need. A local community
health worker in Andalambezo, Madagascar once asked a group of Malagasy women
two questions: whether they knew a woman who’s died in pregnancy or delivery,
and whether they knew a baby who died at a very young age. Sadly, all hands in
the group went up for both questions. Andalambezo is an isolated coastal
community in Madagascar, it is 8-kilometers away from the nearest healthcare
facility. Transportation options from this village to the health facility limit
to either sailing canoes or cattle carts, but both transportations require a
fee from passengers, and unfortunately, many women don’t have the ability to
pay.
(Women's group meeting in Andalambezo.)
Another major factor that threatens
mothers and newborns’ health is a disease called tetanus. Specifically,
maternal and neonatal tetanus (MNT) is a disease of the poor. Most people in
the United States cannot imagine losing a child to tetanus, however, according
to UNICEF, “MNT steals the lives of nearly 60,000 babies and a significant
number of women each year in developing countries.” In extremely poor regions
like Madagascar, MNT has an even higher rate of occurrence.
(A child is vaccinated for MNT)
Right now, UNICEF and its partners have
been helping Madagascar to eliminate maternal and neonatal tetanus, but there
are so many other challenges this country faces due to its economic inability.
Therefore I believe Madagascar’s most challenging task in the 21st century is
fighting poverty.
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