Father Pedro’s Akamasoa association and OSCAPE, the Antsirabe Civil Society Organization for the Protection of Children, receive personal protective equipment, small equipment and consumables, such as hydroalcoholic gel, gloves, surgical masks, visors, bleach and liquid disinfectant, as well as sprays, infrared thermometers, cuff tensiometers and pulse oximeters. This equipment is provided by the Mérieux Foundation at the request of the two organizations, to reinforce the measures against COVID-19, which they and their partner associations have set up for the vulnerable populations of Antananarivo and Antsirabe.
Mobilized from the beginning of the COVID-19 epidemic in Madagascar, the Mérieux Foundation and the association Akamasoa also committed to manufacture 30,000 washable masks for vulnerable populations. They were made in June and July by the women of Akamasoa village in Antananarivo, after the raw materials were funded by the association Alliances et Missions Médicales and the labor by the Mérieux Foundation. The masks were then distributed to the foundation’s partner associations in Antananarivo via the Akamasoa Association and in Antsirabe via OSCAPE.
The Mérieux Foundation supports several Akamasoa projects aiming at meeting the population’s basic needs and improving access to hygiene and healthcare, particularly for women and children. As part of this long-standing partnership, and thanks to funding from the Fondation Christophe and Rodolphe Mérieux, the Lycée Alain Mérieux, first high school built in the village of Mahatsara, near Antananarivo, was inaugurated in January 2020. This historic partnership also enabled the construction of a medical analysis laboratory in 2019.
The Mérieux Foundation has been supporting OSCAPE since 2017 to provide adapted responses to local realities by committing to the network’s associations working for the most vulnerable populations’ health and well-being. In 2019, the foundation donated vitamin A to organizations caring for children in Antsirabe to deal with the measles epidemic that hit Madagascar.
About OSCAPE
Operating since 2011, OSCAPE (Organisation de la Société Civile d’Antsirabe pour la Protection de l’Enfance) brings together and connects 27 associations working for the protection of children in Antsirabe.
Its goal? To sustainably improve the care and living conditions of vulnerable children.
“We are deeply convinced that the achievement of this ambition depends above all on strengthening the capacities of the actors in direct contact with children: our member associations. But beyond that, in-depth work aimed at changing society’s view of Madagascar’s children is also an essential condition for achieving our goal. This project is therefore embodied through two necessary and complementary components: the professionalization of our members’ teams on the one hand, and the implementation of advocacy aimed at informing the general public as well as local authorities on child protection on the other hand. It is also a means of giving visibility to the work and needs of our member associations.”
Through its various actions for associations, OSCAPE has gradually emerged as a key partner in the implementation of local initiatives.
About Akamasoa
The Humanitarian Association Akamasoa, (which means “good friends”), is a local association founded in 1989 by Father Pedro Opeka to fight against the extreme poverty on this island in the Indian Ocean. Today, Akamasoa is a community of 18 villages. Since its creation, housing for 25,000 people, as well as 100 schools, six clinics and other infrastructures have been built.
Contacts presse
Mérieux Foundation
Margaux LUCIANI
Communications Manager
E-mail: margaux.luciani@fondation-merieux.org
OSCAPE
E-mail: coordination@oscape.org / communication@oscape.org
Phone: +261 (0) 34 81 662 59
Akamasoa
E-mail: akamasoa@moov.mg
Phone: +261 (0) 34 79 158 41 / +261 (0) 32 04 802 71