Madagascar: Glimpse of hope amidst severe droughts.

Soalandy, a 31-year-old mother of four, stooped down, picked up a pebble, threw it across the parched earth, and watched the stone roll across the dusty ground. 'Look at that,' she said with her arms opening wide, 'the ground is so dry, how many more years can we survive with this drought?'

Soalandy's family has lived for many generations in the Grand Sud, the southern part of Madagascar. The last three years of extreme drought scorched the land, blighted crops and ended livelihoods.

The layered combination of issues has caused 3.9 million inhabitants of the Grand Sud to now grapple with the debilitating effects of climate change. The severe drought is causing food insecurity and malnutrition for more than one million people.

The perennial low rainfall has serious cascading effects - from straining the already stretched employment situation, to raising poverty levels, limiting access to health and nutritional services, and creating a more damaging impact on the lives of many young women and girls on top of the COVID-19 crisis.

As Grand Sud is in the midst of relentless drought, which is made worse by desertification and pest invasions, we will see exacerbated food insecurity, decimated livelihoods and in many instances, families forced to flee their homes.

Koffi Kouame visiting with group of people in Madagascar

Mr. Koffi Kouame on a UNFPA mission to Grand Sud of Madagascar in 2021.

Unmet family planning needs

At the eye of this climactic storm is the fragile sexual and health reproductive needs of young women and girls.

Records show that the current crisis increases the challenges in meeting the unmet need for family planning and ending maternal mortality.

With the COVID-19 pandemic, cases of gender-based violence are spiking in the southern regions, with 27.1 per cent of women reported as gender-based violence (GBV) victims.

Pregnant and breastfeeding women and girls are more vulnerable during disasters due to their limited mobility and their increased need for food, water, hygiene supplies, and quality maternal health care services.

Insufficient medical support endangers lives, and menstruating women may have disrupted access to menstrual health products or sanitation facilities.

Young women and adolescent girls are also vulnerable to sexual violence, unintended pregnancies, and forced marriage.

Let us pause for a second and look at some of the worrying figures. Based on 2021 projections in Grand Sud's western area of Atsimo Andrefana...