As confinement measures are gradually relaxed in Madasgacar, a traditional remedy endorsed by president Andry Rajoelina is being handed out for free to residents as a purported cure for the coronavirus. But the claims are contrary to warnings from scientists, who say there is no known cure for COVID-19.

We look at how Madagascar's president has endorsed a controversial "miracle cure" to tackle the coronavirus. There is no scientific evidence that the herbal remedy is effective - our correspondent tells us more. Also, Burkina Faso will make face masks mandatory as of April 27, but they're still hard to come by. Our correspondents meet a fashion designer making masks to ease the shortages. Finally, Kenya's lockdown of the capital Nairobi has proven difficult to implement - our correspondents show us why.

A shipment of a Malagasy herbal tea, that President Andry Rajoelina has touted as a powerful remedy against the novel coronavirus and hopes to distribute across West Africa and beyond, arrives in Guinea-Bissau. Baptised Covid-Organics, the drink is derived from artemisia -- a plant with proven efficacy in malaria treatment -- and other indigenous herbs.

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Here is why you should pick up a copy of The Guardian on Monday. Find these stories and much more when you grab a copy of The Guardian on the newsstands on Monday⁣.

For women in Madagascar, having their monthly period is more than just an inconvenience. Having access to toilets, clean water or even disposable sanitary protection is a luxury out of reach to most of them. Our reporters went to investigate on the island, where due to a lack of access to basic infrastructure and necessities – but also because of beliefs, taboos and humiliation – menstrual hygiene is a battle for millions of women, with serious consequences for their empowerment, education and health.

The lemurs of Madagascar's Andasibe forest have been able to enjoy their island paradise tourist-free for months, after the Indian Ocean nation imposed movement restrictions to limit the spread of Covid-19. But struggling tourist facilities breathed a small sigh of relief at the start of September when local nature-lovers were finally allowed to travel to the reserve, a four-hour drive east of the capital Antananarivo. They now eagerly await the resumption of international flights, which bring visitors from across the world eager to catch a glimpse of the island's emblematic primates.

Famine is once again ravaging the south of the island of Madagascar. Victims of drought, poor governance, predatory businesses but also rural banditry, hundreds of thousands of people are acutely malnourished and in desperate need of food relief. Locals say at least 15 people have starved to death, including several children, but experts believe the real figure could be much higher. The authorities have been caught off guard by the disastrous situation. Gaëlle Borgia reports.

In the drought-ravaged south of Madagascar, people are eating white clay mixed with tamarind to cope with famine. Half of the population in the southern region of the Indian Ocean island -- 1.5 million people -- is currently in need of emergency food aid, according to the World Food Programme (WFP). Around 31 million euros ($37.6 million) are urgently needed to feed the hungry.

Three consecutive years of drought and a sharp recession triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic will leave a third of the population in Southern Madagascar struggling to put food on the table. The U.N. World Food Programme says about 1.4 million people in the region will need food aid this year.

It's one of the most overlooked disasters in the world. In Madagascar, 1.5 million people are suffering from a serious food crisis and need emergency assistance. Several dozen people have already died of hunger. An unprecedented drought, which hit the south of the island in recent years and destroyed almost all of the crops, is mostly to blame. As the UN World Food Programme asks for emergency aid of €62.45 million, our correspondent Gaëlle Borgia travelled to Anosy, the region hardest hit by the crisis.

Several years of drought and other factors have left millions in southern Madagascar hungry, with the World Food Programme warning that famine is looming.