United Nations | Haiti: acute hunger has now reached 1/2 of the country’s population | United Nations @unitednations | Uploaded October 2024 | Updated October 2024, 1 week ago.
Haiti today (30 Sep) marks another grim milestone, as the number of people facing acute hunger has now reached half of the country’s population, according to the latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) analysis.
As Haiti continues to grapple with a security crisis, 5.4 million people struggle to feed themselves and their families every day, representing one of the highest proportions of acutely food insecure people in any crisis worldwide. Out of these, two million are in the grips of emergency levels of hunger (IPC Phase 4), facing extreme food shortages, acute malnutrition and high disease levels.
At least 6,000 internally displaced people (IDP) living in temporary shelters in Haiti’s capital after fleeing their homes now face catastrophic levels of food insecurity (IPC Phase 5), according to the latest IPC report. This means people are facing starvation, death, destitution, and extremely critical acute malnutrition levels.
The latest IPC report covers August-November 2024 and was released today by Haiti’s Coordination Nationale de la Sécurité Alimentaire (CNSA), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP). It provides a common scale to measure the severity and magnitude of acute hunger.
“We must not turn our backs on the worst hunger emergency in the Western hemisphere. WFP is urgently calling for broad-based support to massively increase lifesaving assistance to families struggling every day with extreme food shortages, spiralling malnutrition and deadly diseases. There can be no security or stability in Haiti when millions are facing starvation,” said Cindy McCain, WFP’s Executive Director.
Humanitarian food agencies and NGOs in Haiti are short of US$ 230 million to implement programmes until the end of the year – while families displaced by this year’s surge in violence are on the frontline of rising hunger. Humanitarian organizations continue to face challenges in accessing communities living in areas controlled by armed groups.
“With over 75 percent of Haiti’s most food-insecure people living in rural areas, providing crisis-affected households – particularly internally displaced people (IDPs) and their host communities – with timely and effective emergency agricultural support is a cost-effective solution for them to quickly produce their own food,” said Mario Lubetkin, Assistant Director General and FAO Regional Representative for Latin America and the Caribbean.
Violent attacks and fighting linked to armed groups spiked in Port-au-Prince in early 2024, forcing shipping and airport operations to temporarily grind to a halt. Hundreds of thousands of people have forced from their homes in search of safety; in the past six months the number of IDPs has nearly doubled to more than 700,000. Many IDPs have taken shelter in nearly 100 sites across the capital, including in schools and public buildings. IDP sites are often overcrowded and unsanitary, creating a high risk of disease spread, while traumatized families who have seen their incomes and livelihoods vanish struggle to buy enough food in the context of spiraling prices.
WFP has assisted 1.35 million people country-wide so far in 2024, including through emergency assistance, school meals, social protection, and resilience activities. Families with pregnant/breastfeeding women and/or children under five receive additional support, to prevent malnutrition. With additional resources, WFP stands ready to scale up emergency food assistance.
In crisis-affected, urban, peri-urban and rural populations in the metropolitan area of Port-au-Prince and Grand’Anse department, FAO plans to support displaced and host families through the provision of cash transfers along with agricultural input packages and training. However, FAO urgently requires funds to scale up its response to reach the most food-insecure populations. With seeds and tools, a household can produce nutritious vegetables in just a few weeks, worth nearly 14 times the cost of the agricultural kit provided.
Haiti today (30 Sep) marks another grim milestone, as the number of people facing acute hunger has now reached half of the country’s population, according to the latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) analysis.
As Haiti continues to grapple with a security crisis, 5.4 million people struggle to feed themselves and their families every day, representing one of the highest proportions of acutely food insecure people in any crisis worldwide. Out of these, two million are in the grips of emergency levels of hunger (IPC Phase 4), facing extreme food shortages, acute malnutrition and high disease levels.
At least 6,000 internally displaced people (IDP) living in temporary shelters in Haiti’s capital after fleeing their homes now face catastrophic levels of food insecurity (IPC Phase 5), according to the latest IPC report. This means people are facing starvation, death, destitution, and extremely critical acute malnutrition levels.
The latest IPC report covers August-November 2024 and was released today by Haiti’s Coordination Nationale de la Sécurité Alimentaire (CNSA), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP). It provides a common scale to measure the severity and magnitude of acute hunger.
“We must not turn our backs on the worst hunger emergency in the Western hemisphere. WFP is urgently calling for broad-based support to massively increase lifesaving assistance to families struggling every day with extreme food shortages, spiralling malnutrition and deadly diseases. There can be no security or stability in Haiti when millions are facing starvation,” said Cindy McCain, WFP’s Executive Director.
Humanitarian food agencies and NGOs in Haiti are short of US$ 230 million to implement programmes until the end of the year – while families displaced by this year’s surge in violence are on the frontline of rising hunger. Humanitarian organizations continue to face challenges in accessing communities living in areas controlled by armed groups.
“With over 75 percent of Haiti’s most food-insecure people living in rural areas, providing crisis-affected households – particularly internally displaced people (IDPs) and their host communities – with timely and effective emergency agricultural support is a cost-effective solution for them to quickly produce their own food,” said Mario Lubetkin, Assistant Director General and FAO Regional Representative for Latin America and the Caribbean.
Violent attacks and fighting linked to armed groups spiked in Port-au-Prince in early 2024, forcing shipping and airport operations to temporarily grind to a halt. Hundreds of thousands of people have forced from their homes in search of safety; in the past six months the number of IDPs has nearly doubled to more than 700,000. Many IDPs have taken shelter in nearly 100 sites across the capital, including in schools and public buildings. IDP sites are often overcrowded and unsanitary, creating a high risk of disease spread, while traumatized families who have seen their incomes and livelihoods vanish struggle to buy enough food in the context of spiraling prices.
WFP has assisted 1.35 million people country-wide so far in 2024, including through emergency assistance, school meals, social protection, and resilience activities. Families with pregnant/breastfeeding women and/or children under five receive additional support, to prevent malnutrition. With additional resources, WFP stands ready to scale up emergency food assistance.
In crisis-affected, urban, peri-urban and rural populations in the metropolitan area of Port-au-Prince and Grand’Anse department, FAO plans to support displaced and host families through the provision of cash transfers along with agricultural input packages and training. However, FAO urgently requires funds to scale up its response to reach the most food-insecure populations. With seeds and tools, a household can produce nutritious vegetables in just a few weeks, worth nearly 14 times the cost of the agricultural kit provided.
