Prince Port-Au, Haiti- It is expected that more than half of the population of Haiti experience severe hunger until June, and another 8,400 people Living in makeshift shelters It is projected that they will die of hunger, according to a new report published this week.
The implacable violence of gangs and an ongoing economic collapse is the culprit, according to an analysis of the integrated classification of the food security phase, an UN initiative of several parts that analyzes insecurity and food malnutrition throughout the world.
He pointed out that the number of those who faced severe hunger increased by more than 300,000 people to about 5.7 million since last year.
Among those who get hungry are Jackie Jean-Jacques, his wife and three children, who lost their home in gang violence And I have lived in an improvised shelter crowded for more than a year.
“There are days when children have to live with sugar and bread water,” he said. “It hurts to see that.”
Jean-Jacques, 52, used to work as a bus driver, but could no longer afford to rent the bus or buy gasoline. In addition, he worries that one day the gangs open fire against their public transport vehicle as they have done in others.
Meanwhile, his wife sells small items such as plastic cups and slices in the street.
“This is not enough to feed us,” he said.
While food and drinking water were commonly distributed in shelters, the aid began to decrease after the administration of US President Donald Trump at the end of February decided to finish 90% of USAID foreign aid contracts.
“Since March 2025, financing has no longer been guaranteed,” according to the report issued on Monday.
He said that from August 2024 to February 2025, almost 977,000 Haitians received humanitarian food aid monthly, although the rations have been reduced halfway.
“The help you get is not enough,” said Jean-Jacques.
UNICEF said on Thursday that approximately 2.85 million children, a quarter of the entire Haiti children’s population, “face consistently high levels of food insecurity.”
The agency warned that it faces a 70%financing deficit. He said he has helped more than 4,600 children this year with severe acute malnutrition, which represents only 4% of the 129,000 estimated children that are expected to need treatment to save lives this year.
Meanwhile, the UN World Food Program said urgently needs $ 53.7 million to “continue their operations that save lives in Haiti during the next six months.”
“At this time, we are struggling to keep the line on hunger,” Wanja Kaaria, PMA country director in Haiti, said Thursday in a statement on Thursday.
In 2014, only 2% of the population of Haiti was food insecure, with gang violence largely under control and most people who enjoy the successful spring crops of the previous year, according to an earlier report of the integrated classification of the Food Safety Phase.
Hunger at that time mainly affected those in poor rural areas.
But in 2016, Hurricane Matthew abused Haiti As a category 4 storm, destroying crops and livelihoods.
For 2018, more than 386,000 Haitians were experiencing severe hunger, a number that has since grown to an estimated 5.7 million.
“This is very alarming,” said Martin Dickler, director of Haiti for non -profit attention. “It really is an extremely serious food crisis, and Haiti is one of the worst in the world.”
The growing hunger coincides with an increase in the price of goods, and inflation reaches more than 30% in recent months.
Experts also blame gang violence, with armed men who control the main roads that lead inside and outside the capital, Prince of Port-Auinterrupting the transport of goods from the field.
Jean Rose-Bertha, a single mother of two 40-year-old children, said they have lived almost a year in an impromptu shelter after the gangs expelled them from their home.
“I can barely feed them. Sometimes I do things that I should not do,” he said, explaining that he is sometimes prostituted.
Dickler said women and girls have been disproportionately affected by the crisis, facing greater obstacles to accessing both food and livelihoods.
“They are allowed to administer daily family survival,” he said. “In food crises, women often eat less and last.”
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Country of San Juan, Puerto Rico.
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