Haiti hunger crisis deepens as almost 6 million face acute food insecurity

More than half of the population is facing acute food insecurity

FILE PHOTO: A boy rests at the New Church of God of Deliverance camp for displaced people, which now harbors 120 families from various hard-hit neighborhoods since gangs have expanded their turf and now control communities accounting for some two million people, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti Jun 19, 2023. REUTERS/Ralph Tedy Erol/File Photo

Nearly 6 million people in Haiti are expected to face acute food insecurity in the coming months, underscoring how gang violence, mass displacement and economic strain are keeping the Caribbean nation in the grip of a deepening humanitarian crisis, according to a new assessment published on Thursday.

About 5.8 million Haitians - more than half the population - are facing acute food insecurity, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) said, with more than 1.8 million of them in the emergency phase and in urgent need of food assistance.

The crisis has been fueled by worsening insecurity, economic shocks and repeated disruption to markets and farming, the report said. Armed groups have expanded their control in parts of the country, while more than 1.4 million people have been displaced, straining food supplies and pushing vulnerable households deeper into hunger.

The latest IPC projection is slightly below an earlier estimate of 5.91 million people facing acute food insecurity, and the number in the emergency category has also edged lower, improvements that agencies have linked in part to food assistance, easing inflation and better harvest conditions in some areas.

The World Food Programme (WFP) has said sustained food aid helped about 200,000 Haitians move out of emergency levels of hunger since last year, yet aid groups said some recent gains were fragile.

"Fighting hunger is essential to restoring stability in Haiti. We cannot build peace if families cannot feed their children," WFP Haiti Country Director Wanja Kaaria said in a statement.

Humanitarian agencies warned conditions could deteriorate again without more support, citing the spike in global fuel prices caused by the Iran war which has further strained transportation and agricultural production costs.