‘Catastrophic’ hunger recorded in Haiti for first time, UN warns

An unrelenting series of crises has trapped vulnerable Haitians in a cycle of growing desperation, without access to food, fuel, markets, jobs and public services, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) warned on Friday, the UN News Centre informs.

Hunger has reached a catastrophic level - the highest level 5, on the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification index, or IPC) - in the capital’s Cité Soleil neighbourhood.

According to the latest IPC analysis, a record 4.7 million people are currently facing acute hunger (IPC 3 and above), including 1.8 million people in Emergency phase (IPC 4) and, for the first time ever in Haiti, 19,000 people are in Catastrophe phase, phase 5.

Currently, 65 percent of Cité Soleil’s population, especially the poorest and most vulnerable, are in high levels of food insecurity with 5 percent of them in urgent need of humanitarian assistance.

Increased violence, with armed groups vying for control of the vast and now lawless area of Port-au-Prince, has meant that residents have lost access to their work, markets and health and nutrition services. Many have been forced to flee or just hide indoors.

Rural insecurity

Food security has also continued to deteriorate in rural areas, with several going from Crisis to Emergency levels.

Harvest losses due to below average rainfall and the 2021 earthquake that devastated parts of the Grand´Anse, Nippes and Sud departments, are among the other devastating factors, beyond the political and economic crisis.

«WFP stands with the people of Haiti - serving the vulnerable and helping the poorest. We are here to ensure schoolchildren get a nutritious meal each day, families meet their basic food needs and communities are empowered,» said Jean-Martin Bauer, WFP Country Director in Haiti.

Photo: news.un.org