Three dispensaries in Madagascar will benefit from a donation of health products. Donated by the Tulipe association to OTM (Ouverture aux Terres Malgaches), the medicines arrived a few days ago in a country considered to be one of the poorest in the world. The beneficiaries will be Madagascan children.
The seven health product kits, the second donation from Tulipe (Transfert d’Urgence de L’Industrie PharmaceutiquE) to the NGO OTM, were dispatched to three dispensaries as soon as they arrived at the end of June. The first was at the Ecole des Soeurs de l’Evangile, located in one of the poorest areas of the capital. The dispensary in Fianarantsoa, Madagascar’s fourth largest city, is located in a university hospital. Finally, the Ambatofotsy centre has been the NGO’s main centre of activity for over 15 years.
Many children suffer from malnutrition, which can lead to other illnesses (Photo OTM)
It houses a bush dispensary and a school. Thanks to the many initiatives undertaken by OTM, the centre is able to provide schooling for 700 pupils. “In Madagascar, hospitals have to be paid for and many people cannot afford to pay for treatment. The Sisters of the Gospel work in one of the poorest areas of the capital. They take care of feeding the many people in need and provide care for many malnourished children”, explains Isabel Jost, a volunteer with the NGO.
The Sisters of the Gospel help children living in one of the poorest areas of the capital (Photo OTM)
Child malnutrition: a scourge
In the south and south-east of the country alone, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) estimates that 500,000 children will suffer from malnutrition by 2022, 91,000 of them in the most serious form. The staff at the facilities supported by OTM work to prevent rickets. The NGO also provides medical treatment for children in hospital (surgery or leprosy). “Today, the most useful medicines, depending on where the dispensaries are located in the country, are painkillers, treatments for gastro-enteritis, those for high blood pressure, and ENT treatments for ear infections, for example. Generally speaking, we’re short of paediatric formulas”, explains Isabel Jost, pointing out that the country has been devastated by a number of natural disasters, the most recent of which was Hurricane Freddy, which destroyed many crops and infrastructure. These include antibiotics. Antibiotics that patients have to walk three or four days to collect.
“We would like to thank the Tulipe association. Their help has saved the lives of many children. Our priority, and the most important thing for us, is to succeed in giving these children a quality of life that will enable them to go to school in a country where infant mortality remains very high”, concludes Isabel Jost.
