Thousands of children face severe malnutrition in southeastern Madagascar and 1,600 could soon die if they do not receive emergency food aid, a government official said on Monday. Emergency Council Secretary-General Jacki Randindrarison said the government had appealed for aid to avert a famine in the drought-prone Vangaindrano district and was rushing aid to the worst-affected villages. "We did an assessment last week, 1,600 children are at immediate risk of dying from famine, thousands of others have malnutrition," he was quoted as saying by Reuters. On Friday, the United Nations' coordination body for humanitarian affairs OCHA estimated that 14,000 children in the region were malnourished.
