In 2013, an exploratory study highlighted the diverted use in Madagascar pig farms of a synthetic hormone (medroxyprogesterone acetate - MPA) initially used for human female contraception and widely distributed by family planning.

Following this study, the Malagasy Ministry of Health has set up an awareness program for legal and illegal users of the MPA-based contraceptive product. Despite these efforts of information in 3 regions of the center of Madagascar, the flows of products as well as their conditions of access by the Malagasy farmers within the chain remain still unknown. In addition, no monitoring program is currently in place due to the lack of rapid detection tools available in Madagascar.

Five years later, research work is continuing in order to assess the importance of these contaminations at the national level.

How do hormone residues end up in pork meat ? How do farmers get this hormone for contraceptive use? What are the potentially affected areas ?

The Cirad, the Pasteur Institute of Madagascar, the Department of Veterinary Services, with the support of the National Laboratory for Veterinary Diagnosis (LNDV), are trying to answer these questions and are working on a risk mapping of contamination of pork meat by hormone residues in Madagascar.

To develop this mapping, the Cirad and IPM have chosen to carry out a spatialized multi-criteria assessment in order to :

• Understand the organization of informal distribution channels thanks to a survey in geography of health among the various stakeholders (farmers, family planning, pharmacies, ...)
• Evaluate the importance of pork meat contamination in different regions of Madagascar through slaughterhouse sampling and laboratory analyzes using ELISA rapid kits.

This research project is financed by the Interreg-V Qualinnov 2 project co-financed by the European Union (ERDF) and the Réunion Region.

Learn more

Discover the video (in French)  "Des hormones dans nos assiettes ? Évaluation du risque de contamination de la viande de porc à Madagascar"  on our youtube channel !