The United Nations Office at Geneva
Multimedia Newsroom
Nearly half of Haiti’s population – 4.9 million people - are struggling to feed themselves while 1.8 million people are facing famine-like conditions and in need of urgent assistance, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) warned on Friday.
Soaring inflation and lawless armed groups are the main causes for the county sliding into a “hunger emergency”, the agency explained.
“We're now facing some of the worst food security conditions on record in Haiti, with five million people being acutely food insecure”, said Jean-Martin Bauer, WFP’s Country Director in Haiti, when speaking from Haiti’s capital Port-au-Prince to media at the United Nations in Geneva. “This is significant because it's a number that's tripled in the past few years.” He added that “the situation is getting worse and Haiti is slowly sliding into a hunger emergency. This is because of violence in the country, armed groups are now affecting daily life for millions of people”.
In late 2022, catastrophic IPC (Integrated Phase Classification which describes the severity of food emergency) phase 5 which means hunger conditions were recorded in the Cité Soleil commune of the capital, Port-au-Prince, during a period of intense armed group clashes.
Due to high costs of seeds and fertilizers farmers have been forced to reduce areas at a time when the spread of armed groups has plagued rural areas with violence.
“The area of lower Artibonite, which is Haiti's breadbasket, has been the scene of confrontations between armed groups”, said WFP’s country director. “There's also been widespread inflation, which has led to the doubling of the price of a basic food basket here. This is why we have five million people now facing acute food insecurity in the country”.
According to WFP there has been a steady deterioration in food security, with the number of hungry people increasing threefold since 2016, and hunger driving criminality.
“What we need to understand about Haiti is that hunger and violence are intertwined”, said Mr. Bauer. “They feed off each other because the violence causes displacement, it causes loss of assets, it forces people to move, people lose their jobs. And that's why we have five million people in acute food insecurity, is that this violence is very much disrupted the very fabric of life in this country”.
In past years, criminal activity, political deadlock and a deepening economic crisis have contributed to a multifaceted crisis in Haiti. WFP’s operations in Haiti are underfunded and require US$ 125 million over the coming six months.
“The World Food Programme was able to reach 1.6 million people in 2022, and this year we've already been able to reach 850,000 people with essential assistance”, said WFP’s Mr. Bauer. “This means that even though the situation is dangerous, even though it's risky, we are able to help people”.
Soaring inflation has made a basic food basket unaffordable for millions of Haitians. Haiti is among the 10 countries most affected by food price inflation, according to the World Bank.
“For more than a year this country has faced a high level of food prices, and it's been an issue we're trying to respond to now in terms of our own budgets”, said Mr. Bauer. “We've had to increase the amount of money we give people to make sure that they can buy the same basket of goods. As I said, the same basket of goods in Haiti has doubled year-on-year in local currency”.
In the poorest neighborhoods of Port-au-Prince which is also the epicentre of violence in Haiti, families have been living under the control of non-state armed groups enduring restricted movement and reduced access to food, water and sanitation services.
“Haiti needs peace and security, people need to be able to send their kids to school without worrying for their safety”, emphasized Mr. Bauer. “People need to be able to go to the clinic without worrying about their own safety. Farmers need to be able to send their produce to markets without fearing for losing their work”.
-ends-
Similar Stories
1
1
1
Edited News | UNRWA , OCHA , WHO
UN life-saving aid allowed to trickle into Gaza as civilian needs mount
Amid calls for more humanitarian trucks to enter the food and medicine-deprived Palestinian enclave of Gaza, UN humanitarians have received permission from Israel for “around 100” more aid trucks to cross into the Strip after only five were let in yesterday, But the scale of relief efforts allowed remains entirely insufficient to meet the urgent needs of people there, humanitarian workers say.
1
1
1
Edited News
A war reporter from Lebanon who lost a limb in the line of duty is calling for an end to impunity for attacks against journalists.
1
1
1
Edited News | ITU
The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) commemorated 160 years dedicated to connecting the world on Saturday, 17 May in Geneva, Switzerland, during the annual World Telecommunication and Information Society Day.
1
1
1
Edited News | WHO , OCHA
Gazans ‘in terror’ after another night of deadly strikes and siege
Amid reports that Israeli strikes across Gaza into Friday killed at least 64 people, aid teams once again pushed back strongly at allegations that aid is being diverted to Hamas and pleaded for the blockade to end.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
Deportations over recent months of large numbers of non-nationals from the United States of America, especially to countries other than those of their origin, raise a number of human rights concerns, the UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk warned on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | WHO
Gaza: Over 50 child malnutrition deaths amid aid blockade; entire generation will be ‘permanently affected’ - WHO
In the aid desert of Gaza, malnourished children are dying while survivors can expect a lifetime of dire health problems, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | WHO , UNICEF , UNRWA
Israel’s aid plan will force Gaza families to choose ‘between displacement and death’ – UN humanitarians
Israel’s plan to take control of relief assistance in Gaza risks increasing the suffering of families already exhausted by 18 months of war by putting their lives in danger and inciting more displacement, using aid as “bait”, UN humanitarians said on Friday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OCHA , WHO
UN Humanitarians reject Israeli plan to take over aid delivery
The reported Israeli proposal to deliver humanitarian supplies through hubs controlled by the military would be a breach of the core principles of neutral, impartial and independent aid delivery, the UN aid coordination office, OCHA, said on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News , B-roll | OCHA
Gaza: ‘Worst-case scenario’ unfolds as two-month aid blockade deepens suffering - OCHA
Two months into a devastating aid blockade of Gaza food has run out and people are fighting over water amid relentless bombing, the UN’s humanitarian affairs coordination office (OCHA) said on Friday.
/Includes OCHA footage from Gaza City/
1
1
1
Edited News | UNRWA
Children in Gaza are going to bed starving, says aid agency
The biggest UN aid agency in Gaza on Tuesday condemned the two-month Israeli blockade on Gaza that has left families sharing a single tin of food at mealtime and the sick and injured without lifesaving medical help, amid daily bombardment.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNHCR
Ongoing Russian attacks in Ukraine force frontline areas to empty: UNHCR
With Ukrainian cities still reeling from this week’s deadly Russian missile and drone attacks, communities on the front line continue to be targeted too, the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, said on Friday. “We also see attacks on frontline regions increasing and it's, as always, civilians that are bearing the highest cost of the war,” said Karolina Lindholm Billing, UNHCR Representative in Ukraine.
1
1
1
Edited News | WFP
Funding and supply shortfalls for the UN World Food Programme (WFP)'s work in Ethiopia will halt lifesaving treatment for 650,000 malnourished women and children at the end of the month. “We are at the breaking point,” it said on Tuesday.