One in Six Children in Haiti one step away from famine conditions – Save the Children

PORT-AU-PRINCE 3 October 2024 – One in six children in Haiti are now one step away from famine-like conditions with the number at risk rising more than 20% in six months due to ongoing armed violence, according to Save the Children.  

Analysis of new data from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) Partnership—the leading international authority on the severity of hunger crises—found that about 2 million children—almost half of all children in the country—are facing crisis levels of hunger or worse.  

Among them, more than 760,000 children, or one in six children—are experiencing emergency food insecurity (IPC Phase 4), characterised by acute malnutrition and a heightened risk of hunger-related death. This is a 21% spike since March. 

The IPC report also showed that 6,000 people are already facing famine-like conditions (IPC Phase 5), with 19,200 people driven into IPC 5 between September 2022 and February 2023.  

Haiti is currently grappling with record high hunger levels, with gang violence, spiralling lawlessness and climate disasters sparking severe food shortages.    

Food costs now account for up to 70% of total household spending with inflation soaring. Meanwhile, farmers are facing difficulties selling their crops due to roadblocks imposed by armed groups around Port-au-Prince, cutting off access to surrounding regions.  

Armed violence and a lack of available services and supplies are preventing Save the Children and other aid agencies from reaching many children and adults in need. 

Chantal Sylvie Imbeault, Save the Children’s Country Director in Haiti, said: 

“The heart-breaking reality in Haiti is that children are paying the ultimate price for a crisis fuelled by violence and instability. Armed groups are using hunger and hopelessness of children to recruit them into their ranks. As the hunger crisis tightens its grip on the country, the future of the current and future generations slips away.  

“The violence has created a chokehold on humanitarian aid, leaving us unable to reach the most vulnerable.  Without immediate access to life-saving aid, we may risk losing an entire generation to preventable suffering and death. We’re once again demanding unfettered access for aid workers and to urgently mobilise resources to save lives.” 

Save the Children has been working in Haiti since 1978 in both urban and rural communities.  

The child rights organisation is calling for full, unfettered access for aid workers and life-saving supplies across Haiti, especially in Port au Prince, to combat hunger and severe acute malnutrition and for all parties to do their utmost to protect children. Save the Children is also calling on the international community to urgently increase humanitarian funding for Haiti. 

Save the Children is providing cash assistance for displaced families in the metropolitan area of Port-au-Prince living in schools-turned-shelters to find more dignified housing solutions while helping to free up schools to resume educational activities, and cash assistance to host families in the Grand’Anse and South department. The child rights organisation is also working through local partners in Haiti’s West, Grand’Anse and South departments to provide access to quality education and psychosocial support to students. 

ENDS 

Notes to Editor: 

• The IPC framework ranks global hunger crises on a scale from Stressed (Phase 2) to Catastrophic/Famine (Phase 5). 

• According to the IPC, 2 million people (18 percent of the population analysed) are facing critical levels of acute food insecurity, classified as IPC Phase 4 (Emergency), one phase away from IPC 5 (Catastrophe/Famine). Of the 2 million people facing IPC Phase 4, 38% are estimated to be children, more than 760,000. 

  •    The 21% increase is calculated on the basis of children in IPC4+ in the March 2024 IPC release and the latest release, published in September 2024. 91% of the Haitian population was analysed in the March report, compared to 100% of the population for this report, so some of the increase may be due to a slight increase in people analysed.