In 1896, France conquered Madagascar and as most conquers do to help finance an expensive war, they spare the lives of the people and say you owe us a debt. In short, France issues Francs, creates a market, and collects taxes. What’s interesting to note here is during this same time France outlaws slavery but turns around and places a crippling debt on Madagascar. That debt carries through the next century. It wasn’t until 1990 that France finally canceled the 698 million dollars still “owed” to them. Imagine for a moment paying in the present day to a country that conquered you 100 years prior. Unfortunately, this happened all the time in history and still continues today.
It doesn’t stop there. During the 1950s and throughout the next several decades that followed, there were major pushes to eradicate malaria in Africa. Madagascar being crippled in debt couldn’t pay for these types of abatement and eradication programs and so they borrowed money from the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). In 1957, it seemed for a moment that it could work out. It was reported that malaria transmission had been reduced to such a low level that it was no longer a significant public health problem. But as control relaxed in the 1960s, there was an uptick in cases. The international economic downturn of the 1970s, further made the debt crisis even worse for Madagascar. Incomes on the island had dropped by approximately 40 percent. Outbreaks began occurring more frequently and by the mid-1980’s it was estimated that 15,000 people were dying every year during the worst four-year period of the outbreaks from a totally preventable disease. Why? Because Madagascar had a responsibility to pay its debts, it couldn’t save its people.
Thanks to the efforts of groups like Debt Justice (formally Jubilee Debt Coalition) in 2004, The World Bank and the IMF canceled half of Madagascar’s debt. Madagascar’s total external debt at the time stood at over 4 billion US dollars. Unfortunately, it was too little, too late. People died unnecessarily.
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