The end of 2021 and the beginning of 2022 were eventful. After two years of running online sessions with partners and members of the PHE network, in person meetings are now resuming at both the national and regional scale.
About thirty members of the PHE Centre Network, from Fianarantsoa and the Ifanadiana district, met in Ranomafana for the 2nd regional PHE event on agroforestry as a means to mitigate exploitation of natural resources and provide a stable income.
A document capturing the responses of Population-Health-Environment (PHE) partners to Covid-19 was presented on the 19th of May via Zoom to more than forty participants. Since April 2020, two national health emergencies have been declared in Madagascar as a direct response to the pandemic and restrictive measures have been implented to tackle rising cases.
The first quarter of 2021 will see a gradual resumption of the regional activities of the PHE Network. In mid-March, the SAVA region (North-East of Madagascar) hosted the first North-East regional coordination meeting, which was followed by the first regional PHE Day: two complementary events in which more than twenty NGOs/associations and regional directorates from the SAVA and Analanjirofo regions participated.
Focusing on intersectionality in a global health crisis has enabled us to rapidly reorganize and respond to the most pressing needs to help people, especially the most vulnerable, and to strengthen their resilience to the shocks caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. This has confirmed the flexibility of our integrated approach that allows us to adapt to needs and priorities according to the context.
The PHE network and its members are resuming their activities in promoting a Population-Health-Environment (PHE) approach to support community-led biodiversity conservation and strengthen health services following the lifting of Madagascar’s COVID-19 health emergency.