News from Madagascar
Health Care - February 2023
It was reiterated at the Health Orders Conference that improving health care must remain a national priority as it is the basis of all development. Several points were discussed during this “Day of reflection on the improvement of health care,” namely the control of the circulation of medications, the texts of law pending or to be amended (grafts and organ transplants, tele-medicine, therapeutic termination of pregnancy), along with participation of the private health sector and proposals to facilitate access to care for the entire population, in particular through the policy on the use of generic drugs. With regard to the therapeutic termination of pregnancy, the Conference of Orders wishes to speak with religious authorities and parliamentarians for further explanations, it was pointed out. The Conference of Health Orders includes the following: the National Order of Physicians, the National Order of Pharmacists, the National Order of Nurses, the National Order of Midwives and the National Order of Psychologists. It has nearly 40,000 members spread across the island.
Chan Niger-Madagascar - February 2023
Anemia - February 2023
The Epidemiology and Clinical Research Unit of the Institut Pasteur in Madagascar conducted a study to assess the factors associated with the onset of anemia. This project is a multidisciplinary program that focuses specifically on understanding pediatric environmental enteropathy, a known syndrome that can lead to chronic childhood malnutrition, in Bangui (Central African Republic) and Antananarivo (Madagascar). This study was conducted with 414 children aged 24 to 59 months from the community environment of disadvantaged neighborhoods of Antananarivo. Of the 414 children included in this analysis, 24.4% had anemia. The risk factors associated with this disease are iron deficiency and high levels of fecal calprotectin, a biochemical marker of inflammation of the digestive tract. These results call on public health decision-makers to strengthen programs and activities aimed at improving the quality of young children's diets and micronutrient intake to control anemia, as well as measures to reduce the burden of infectious diseases, according to the Pasteur Institute of Madagascar.