Ban Ki-moon, United Nations Secretary General, has expressed strong concern over the levels of malnutrition in the Country.
He said on Wednesday in a report presented in Antananarivo (Madagascar) that it was among Africa’s highest.
Ban said nearly half of children under-five suffer from stunted growth and nine per cent suffer from acute malnutrition.
Ban called malnutrition “a tragedy for the people and a disaster for the country’s development”.
The study said experts attributed the high levels of malnutrition to a combination of factors including a one-sided rice-based diet and poor hygiene, which can cause diarrhoea.
The study Madagascar’s economy loses about 1.5 billion dollars – 15 per cent of gross domestic product – annually due to the effects of malnutrition on people.
Madagascar official said government has launched a UN-sponsored plan to improve nutrition, which would invest 40 million dollars annually to boost the quality of oil and flour, and to distribute food supplements to children and pregnant women.