Madagascar

For nearly 30 years, MCD Global Health has been implementing public health programs in Madagascar. With efforts spanning water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), maternal and child health, malaria, pandemic response and preparedness, and vaccination campaigns, MCD’s efforts have resulted in sustainable improvements to the health and wellness of people across Madagascar.

Recent Projects

Vaccination Campaign

MCD received a grant from Gavi, The Vaccine Alliance to protect children left unprotected against deadly diseases by increasing vaccination coverage in 15 districts. It’s estimated that by the end of the project, 23,000 of these children, representing 54% of zero-dose and under-vaccinated children in the priority communities, will receive necessary vaccines.

UNICEF WASH

MCD implemented a one-year WASH project funded by UNICEF and with assistance from a local non-governmental organization, Mavila. This program aimed to assist Madagascar in meeting its goal of universal access to WASH by 2030 as well as worked on challenges to WASH in Madagascar’s Anlanjirofo, Atsimo Antsinanana, and Vatovavy Fitovinany regions.

Learn more about this WASH project

Duration

1996–Present

Focus Areas

Sanitation and hygiene, malaria, pandemic response, health systems strengthening, and maternal and child health

Funders

Gavi, UNICEF, USAID, and Global Sanitation Fund/Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council

Partners

Mavila, Asos, Caritas, ONG Miarintsoa, Green, Mamizo, Famonjena, Adema, Asos-sahi-hvm, Saf Fjkm, Ainga Madagascar, Sahi, Avia, Ajema, Fami, Saf Fjkm, Spm, and Mamelo

Recent Projects:

Gavi Vaccination Coverage Project: 2025-2026
UNICEF WASH: 2021-2022
U.S. President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI) Impact Malaria Madagascar: 2018-2023
Fonds d'Appui pour l'Assainissessment (FAA): 2010–2020

Country Director

Dr. Rija Lalanirina FANOMEZA

MCD's History in Madagascar

While our presence in Madagascar began in 1996 with the USAID-funded Betioky Child Survival Project, it is our work in improving access to WASH that has endured for more than 18 years.

MCD’s WASH efforts began in 2005 with a project funded by the African Development Bank. However, it was under the Fonds d'Appui pour l'Assainissessment (FAA, in English, Sanitation Support Fund Program), funded by the Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council (Global Sanitation Fund), that lasted from 2010 through 2020 where our team revolutionized community-led total sanitation (CLTS) approaches and tools to sustainably eliminate open defection.

As part of this approach, communication campaigns and people-centered social behavior change activities were carried out throughout Madagascar under the FAA project that helped change behaviors and create demand and social norms for improved WASH services. All told, FAA activities promoting improved sanitation and hygiene reached more than 10 million people as well as worked with the Ministry of Water in developing improved sanitation strategies.

Results

29

Years of continuous work in Madagascar

8,600

Women and girls supported to use appropriate and affordable menstrual hygiene products so far in UNICEF WASH Project

2.8M

People in more than 23,900 villages declared open defecation free (ODF) at close out of the FAA

"Our CLTS approach includes a community-based movement and the entire sanitation and hygiene service chain, from promotion and creating demand to institutional strengthening and advocating for policy reforms. We're proud that our approaches, such as the Follow-up MANDONA, institutional triggering, U-shaped approach for scaling up our market-driven approach to a district-wide sanitation level, have been adapted and replicated in other countries in Africa, resulting in positive impacts across the continent."

—Dr. Joséa Ratsirarson, Deputy Director, International Programs

Malaria

Though MCD’s presence in Madagascar is highly involved in WASH, we are also implementing strategies to prevent, control, and manage malaria since 2007 through the USAID Improving Malaria Diagnostics project, USAID MalariaCare project, and most recently with the U.S. President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI) Impact Malaria program.

PMI Impact Malaria Madagascar supports Madagascar’s National Malaria Control Program (NMCP) in eliminating malaria through various means.

In 2021, PMI Impact Malaria Madagascar and MCD, as an implementing partner, conducted quarterly laboratory OTSS+ visits for malaria diagnostic and laboratory services in 13 regions of the country, supporting a total of 184 health facilities in 75 districts.

Our team continues to work with Madagascar’s government and other partners and funders in continuing WASH and malaria-related services to assist Madagascar in achieving its short- and long-term public health goals.

Learn more about our involvement with PMI Impact Malaria