Madagascar is already a poor country, however in 2010, after it failed to implement much needed reforms, humanitarian and development aid was stopped from the EU. The current crisis is seeing children being pulled out of schools, factories closing, hospitals struggling and running out of supplies against a backdrop of over half the country's children suffering from malnourishment.

Half of all children under the age of five will die of diarrhoea, those who do survive will suffer from frequent bouts of illness even at school, where only 18% of Madagascar's schools have access to drinking water and only 30% have toilets.

Nearly 70% of Madagascar's population lives below the poverty with poverty rising to 85% in rural areas, which is home to 80% of the country's 20 million population. You can make a difference when you sponsor a child from Madagascar: