Five million people suffer the largest food crisis in Haiti since the 2010 earthquake

The number of people suffering from hunger in Haiti has reached record levels, the director of the World Food Program (PMA) from the ONU.

“There are five million people in Haiti suffering from acute food insecurity, of which 1.6 million are classified as in emergency food insecurity (…) These are the highest figures recorded,” declared Jean-Martin Bauer, director of the PMA in the country.

From a community kitchen in Port-au-Prince, Bauer’s briefing took place just hours after the WFP and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) will publish their latest report on famine hotspots, in which they call for action to save lives and avoid hunger in 18 places like Gaza, Sudan and Haiti.

Given the high number of people displaced by rampant gang violence, and the resulting insecurity and human rights violations, that have shaken the city in recent years, the Security Council of the United Nations has authorized the deployment of a Multinational Security Support Mission to assist the Haitian National Police, which is still in the planning phase.

Unprecedented instability

The situation in the Caribbean country worsened in early March after gangs tightened their grip on the capital, carrying out coordinated attacks against police stations and other key state institutions, and freeing thousands of prisoners in prison breaks. Flights were suspended and Prime Minister Ariel Henry resigned.

In response to journalists’ questions, Bauer stated that security is the “number one priority” in the face of violence that makes it dangerous for the population, including his staff, to even take their children to school, do the shopping or go to the grocery store. church.

The violence has forced more than 360,000 Haitians to leave their homes. More than 100,000 left Port-au-Prince in March alone, he said, citing data from the U.N. migration agency. IOM.

The director explains that this “exodus” from the capital is especially affecting the south of the country, where infrastructure is limited, which aggravates the food crisis. “The country has been blocked. The main container ports, the airport, did not function for months. Little by little they’re back up and running,” he said.

Although a new prime minister has been appointed, the period since then “has been quite violent, quite unstable,” he added.

a million meals

Humanitarian staff have gone to great lengths to respond to the crisis, and the hot meals program is just one example of their efforts. In total, the World Food Program and its partners have helped more than 100,000 people since the beginning of the year, providing more than one million hot meals.

“At this time, we have been able to use the reserves that we stored in Port-au-Prince before the crisis, but they have been running out,” explained the person in charge of the PMA in Haiti.

Help by air

With the recent reopening of the airport, he expressed optimism that more products will arrive in the country to maintain humanitarian activities.

Last week, a WFP cargo flight carried 15 tons of vital medical supplies to Port-au-Prince airport for the first time in months.

The articles were intended for partners such as United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Health Organization (WHO), which delivered them to local hospitals and clinics. More flights will soon take to the skies.

Other “big advances” included the arrival of WFP in the Cité-Soleil neighborhood, which provided rations to some 93,000 people in May. WFP has also maintained a ferry service linking Port-au-Prince with northern and southern Haiti, bringing food and medical supplies to areas that have been isolated from humanitarian supply chains.

Pay attention to Haiti

“But there is still a sense of crisis,” Bauer said. This month the Atlantic hurricane season begins, which is expected to be “very active” this year. Food prices in the capital have also increased by almost 30% since January, representing another blow to the population.

He urged the international community to step up and support Haiti as the $674 million humanitarian response plan, launched in February, is only 22% funded. WFP also needs $76 million to continue its life-saving work in the country.

“We need to continue to have Haiti in our sights,” he said. “We know that in some parts of the world not enough attention has been paid to Haiti because we are waiting for other crises, we look elsewhere, but the Haiti crisis is here, it is now and it deserves a response.”