Haiti

Overview

Haiti is regularly affected by natural disasters such as floods, earthquakes, landslides, and droughts. At least 4.4 million people in Haiti (about 40% of the population) were in need of humanitarian assistance as at March 2021; almost 49% of them are children. Food insecurity persists across the country, with approximately 4.1 million people in acute need of food assistance. This is caused by the combined effects of natural hazards and poor socioeconomic conditions. In November 2020, 69% of 11,600 households surveyed reported a decrease in their incomes as a result of the pandemic. During 2019–2020, four million children did not have access to education. Haiti experiences political and social turbulence because of gang violence, which has been on the rise since the second half of 2020. Since June 2021, approximately 18,100 people have been displaced by armed violence, and about 1.5 million have been affected by the inability to access basic services in Port-au-Prince during clashes between gangs. The assassination of President Jovenel Moïse on 7 July adds a new element of political instability to the current crisis, although the potential developments and consequences of the event are not yet clear. ?

INFORM measures Haiti's risk of humanitarian crisis and disaster for 2019 to be high at 6.5/10. Lack of Coping Capacity is of particular concern, at 7.4/10.?

Latest Developments

A cholera outbreak was declared by Haitian authorities on 1 October, and 20 cases including 7 deaths from Port-au-Prince and Cite Soleil are under investigation as at 2 October. Suspected cases have come from areas that are largely under gang control. Violence and insecurity pose a significant access challenge for the cholera response, alongside petrol shortages resulting from gang-imposed restrictions – including at some oil ports of entry – that have been hampering mobility and humanitarian access.  Lack of fuel supply at power plants was affecting the functioning of medical centres and reducing humanitarian operations before the outbreak. The poor functioning of hydropower plants and  inability to mobilise water tankers, especially in the hardest-to-reach places for humanitarian aid, has hindered access to clean water, sanitation, and safe food, increasing the risk of a rapid expansion in the number of cholera cases. ?