Facts and figures about the number of street children in Madagascar are not available in any reliable form, yet one only has to look on the streets and have an awareness of the reasons children end up living there to know its a growing problem and getting far, far worse. The recent military coup in Madagascar and the subsequent suspension of humanitarian aid to the republic has left an already impoverished nation teetering on the brink with budgets across the board being slashed by between 50-70%. An estimated two million school aged children have now been forced to abandon school to work to help their family's basic needs. As one youngster put it "What’s the point of doing nothing in school all day when there’s nothing to eat at the end of it?"

These are the very conditions that lead to not just children walking out of school, but parents abandoning their children when they can no longer support them, even small children just left by themselves on the streets. There are even reports of mothers abandoning their new born babies in hospital because they can't afford to feed them nor afford any future medical care with, for example, treatment of childhood tuberculosis costing more than a month's factory wage.

As noted above, exact figures are not known, but the number of street children in Madagascar certainly runs into thousands with some of these children even being born on the streets. Its a testament to the size of the problem that the international charity Medicine Sans Frontieres recently left the capital city of Antananarivo saying that the problem is simply too large for them and responsibility must lie with the Madagascan government.

This short video shows young street children of  Antananarivo sweeping the pavement to pick up rice. These particular children are looked down on by other street children in Madagascar as 'garbage boys' as others work on the streets carrying bags, washing cars, collecting water and of course, selling illegally and pick pocketing. A good day is one when there is some food at the end of it.