UNITED NATIONS — The U.N. World Food Program (WFP) is urgently appealing for $46 million over the next six months to help 2 million Haitians facing severe hunger — including 8,500 people at the catastrophic Phase 5 level, the worst in the global hunger scale.
WFP’s regional director, Lola Castro, recently returned from Haiti and warned that escalating gang violence has displaced over 1 million people and left 5.7 million — half the population — in urgent need of food.
Haiti is one of only five countries with people experiencing Phase 5 hunger, where entire households face starvation and destitution. Gangs now control 85% of the capital, and the country has lacked a president since the 2021 assassination of Jovenel Moïse.
Although a U.N.-backed Kenyan-led security mission is present, it is severely under-resourced, with just 40% of the planned personnel.
Due to U.S. funding cuts, WFP’s supplies can only last until July. For the first time in years, WFP enters hurricane season without emergency food stocks or funds to respond quickly to disasters.
The agency warns that without new funding, daily meals for 500,000 school children will be halved, and support for displaced families will shrink. Castro urged the global community not to forget Haiti amid other global crises.
“We really need to stop this and hold the line on hunger,” she said.
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