Haiti Crisis: Rising Food Insecurity and Humanitarian Challenges

The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification said in a report that about 4.97 million people out of a population of about 11.5 million were facing crisis or worse levels of food insecurity.

TFD – Discover the escalating crisis in Haiti, where rising food insecurity and gang violence are threatening the lives of millions.

PORT-AU-PRINCE: International groups said on Friday that as gang violence sweeps throughout the nation and certain districts are on the verge of famine, nearly half of Haiti’s population is struggling to feed themselves.

According to them, low harvests and inflation have also contributed to Haiti’s highest levels of food insecurity ever.

“The security problem that is tearing the nation apart is being exacerbated by rising hunger. The director of the World Food Program for Haiti, Jean-Martin Bauer, stated, “We need to respond at scale immediately; delaying is not an option.”

Out of a population of around 11.5 million, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), an organization that establishes a scale used by the UN and countries to quantify hunger, stated in a report that 4.97 million individuals experienced a crisis or worse levels of food insecurity.

It stated that eight areas were currently considered to be in an emergency phase, which is the worst state before to famine.

These include the poor Cite Soleil sector in the city, the Artibonite valley, rural areas of the Grand-Anse peninsula, and Haiti’s farming heartland, which has been severely damaged by gangs spreading from Port-au-Prince.

Since competing gangs launched a wave of attacks this month, including raids on police stations and the international airport, the Caribbean nation has been engulfed in violence. Thousands have died and hundreds of thousands have been displaced by the fighting.

Prime Minister Ariel Henry has pledged to step down once a transitional council is established, and regional leaders are working to assemble one. However, he was barred from entering the nation after traveling to Kenya to propose the deployment of an international security force, leaving him trapped outside. For now, this has been postponed.

“All four terrorists” were apprehended on route to the Ukrainian border, according to the FSB security service, which also claimed that they had links in Ukraine.

According to the WFP, armed groups are seizing control of farmlands and stealing harvests, forcing many families to turn to desperate tactics and incurring further debt. As a result, Haiti is currently experiencing its greatest levels of food insecurity on record.

Only 5% of Haitians, according to the IPC report, had received food aid from humanitarian organizations, and the WFP said that operations were “woefully under-funded.”

According to U.N. data, in just two weeks this month, over 30,000 people have fled the city due to violence and shortages; the majority of these individuals had already lost their houses and were staying in camps or with other families.

Tens of thousands of Haitian migrants have been deported by the Dominican Republic’s authorities, who claim they have not accepted the U.N.’s announcement of an air bridge to transport aid to Haiti and that the air route is intended for the evacuation of foreign nationals.

According to Laurent Uwumuremyi, chief of Mercy Corps’ Haiti division, gangs now control about 90% of the capital, making it impossible to conduct routine tasks, closing vital infrastructure, experiencing a shortage of essential supplies, and putting hospitals in danger of collapsing.

“People have been barricaded indoors, even in areas like Petion-Ville, an affluent neighborhood that was thought to be safe until recently,” he said. “Port-au-Prince will soon find itself completely overwhelmed if the situation worsens without any efforts to address the unfolding humanitarian crisis.”