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Thursday, 6th July 2023

Food distribution continued… all because of you!

By Charlie Reid

In April, we launched our fundraising campaign ‘£24,000-in-24 days’. Faced with a funding shortfall of £24,000 to ensure we could continue this round of food distribution to the end, we reached out to you for support…

Our Food Distribution Programme first started in 2021 as a response to the increasing food insecurity concerns seen across the Anosy region in Madagascar. Accelerated by years of consecutive drought, crop failure, and rising food prices following the COVID-19 pandemic, children like Xavier pictured here were unable to access the necessary nutrients they needed. As a result, Xavier became not only malnourished but also vulnerable to other deadly illnesses.

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During  SEED’s Food Distribution Programme in the commune of Sarisambo, Xavier’s mother Sylvana told us how the unpredictable and increasingly extreme weather conditions seen in the region meant her husband could no longer raise an income from fishing in Baie d’ Italy, a coastal fokontany 7km away. With money low and food access diminishing, 17 month old Xavier quickly fell sick, contracting malaria, even more deadly to a malnourished child. However, with treatment at the local community health centre and intervention by SEED’s Community Health team, Xavier began to make a recovery.

Each round of food distribution lasts for 60 days. During this time SEED works with local healthcare agents to monitor children suffering from malnourishment in 18 CSBs (Community Healthcare Clinics) in the rural areas around the town of Fort Dauphin. Children diagnosed as suffering from moderate acute malnutrition (MAM) are visited every 15 days throughout the 60 day period and given ‘plumpy’, a ready-to-use therapeutic food packed full of calories and minerals, whilst their families receive food rations consisting of rice, beans and oil. Those with severe acute malnutrition (SAM) are treated at their local CSBs by health care professionals, receiving plumpy from the government, and food rations from SEED’s food distribution team. The funds raised through the 24-in-24 campaign will support the treatment of 28 children suffering with SAM, and 350 with MAM… and we were delighted to announce that with your kind support we managed to achieve our target! As of last month, the final distribution of this round was able to start, with eight CSB’s visited during the first week. The last round of food distribution saw 100% of the children recover and we hope to see similar successes this time.  

We are so grateful to have such kind and generous supporters… thank you ????