Haiti is among the ten countries worst-affected by food-price inflation, according to the World Bank. Soaring inflation and impossibly high prices continue to compound misery for Haitians, many of whom are unable to afford a basic meal. This is compromising their development at an early age, which can lead to lifelong health issues. The growing crisis is severely impacting the health and nutrition of Haitian children, who have limited access to nutritious food. Just this week MSF closed its hospital in Cité Soleil, and fighting has resumed.”

“If funding doesn’t come through, the next IPC figures will be much worse.“We can’t afford to let this food crisis fester at a time of political, and security, fragility. “We need US$125 million over the next six months and our donors are simply not stepping up,” he adds. 'The fighting must stop, yes, but we also need the food to arrive and for that we need funds'. The fighting must stop, yes, but we also need the food to arrive and for that we need funds.” “But we all know the situation remains fragile, and earlier this month shooting prevented us from doing our important work in the neighbourhood. “We have done everything we possibly can to bring vital food support to Cité Soleil,” says Bauer. Jean-Martin Bauer, WFP’s Country Director for Haiti, recognizes this as a pivotal moment but is all too aware that it can also be a fleeting one – the latest figures from the global standard for measuring food insecurity (the Integrated Food Phase Classification or IPC) present a “fragile victory”, he says.Ī record 4.9 million people are projected to be in acute hunger (IPC3 and above) in Haiti – that’s nearly half the country, including 1.8 million people in ‘emergency’ phase (IPC4). Since October, WFP has carried out more than 60 distributions in Cité Soleil. Her eyes well up as she says the food she receives from WFP is a lifeline, adding “may God bless you” to NGO staff so they can be safe from “bullets when you bring us food”.įood is unloaded by WFP partner staff at a school in Brooklyn, Cité Soleil. When things get really bad, she is forced to “ask for charity” in the streets. “Bandits left with my husband and killed him,” she says at a distribution in the Brooklyn neighbourhood of Cité Soleil. Nerlande has six children whom she is raising on her own. This severely reduces the access of residents to jobs, food, fuel and any semblance of a life free of terror – a terror that is visible in Nerlande’s eyes. This impoverished part of Port-au-Prince, home to around 100,000 people, is where the rivalry of armed gangs, which have overrun most of the capital, regularly finds its most violent expression. Hunger levels remain extremely worrying however. This was against the odds, with the World Food Programme (WFP) working with its implementing partners to reel people back from the brink, gaining access to Cité Soleil. Of course, it’s good news that the 19,200 people who faced ‘famine-like’ conditions in October no longer do. Read moreĪ girl waits for her mother to pick up a cash grant at a distribution point near Les Cayes - WFP needs US$125 million to respond over the next six months in Haiti. We work in 123 countries and territories, combining emergency assistance with long-term development while adapting our activities to the context and challenges of each location and its people.

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