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Despite conjuring images of widespread death in the middle ages, plague is today an entirely treatable disease.
Madagascar records cases of plague – the majority being cases of bubonic plague - almost every year in the endemic zones in the highlands and northwest of the country between September and April, and the country is usually equipped to treat it.
However, this year, the majority of cases are the more dangerous and transmittable pneumonic plague. Therefore, people in Madagascar are afraid, universities and schools have closed their doors, people are starting to use masks to avoid infection. The Malagasy authorities have called to international partners for support in helping tackling this outbreak.
Doctors Without Borders (MSF) is an international, independent, medical humanitarian organisation that delivers emergency aid to people affected by armed conflict, epidemics, natural disasters and exclusion from healthcare.
Read: MSF support Madagascar in tackling plague outbreak.