Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to Integrated Food Security Phase Classification's publication entitled MADAGASCAR [GRAND SUD AND GRAND SUD-EST]: Food Security and Nutrition Snapshot, published on 22 August 2023, whether he plans to take steps to support (a) children, (b) pregnant women and (c) lactating women with acute malnutrition over the next eight months in southern Madagascar.

As the 2023 Integrated Food Security Phase Classification report indicated, the past year has seen a significant improvement in food security in southern Madagascar, in part because of a concerted humanitarian response and better rains. The UK has contributed to this progress, including through £2 million support to the World Food Programme as well as through funding to post-cyclone recovery in south-eastern Madagascar.

The UK is also a major contributor to the World Bank and the UN, both central players in addressing remaining malnutrition in southern Madagascar. Alongside likeminded partners, the British Embassy continues to monitor the situation closely and lobby the Government of Madagascar for increased attention and funding to the affected areas.