UN pleads for urgent aid as Haiti children face malnutrition crisis

UNITED NATIONS, CMC – The United Nations Friday warned that the nutrition situation for children in Haiti continues to deteriorate and is urging the global community to provide funding for the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) country to deal with the situation.

“The nutrition sector under the Haiti Humanitarian Response Plan requires US$41 million but is less than 20 per cent funded, with just US$7.5 million received. We need more money, and we need it very, very soon,” said Stéphane Dujarric, the spokesman for the UN Secretary-General at the daily press briefing.

He told reporters that colleagues at UNICEF, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP) say more than a quarter of a million children between the ages of six to 59 months old are expected to suffer from acute malnutrition between June of this year and May of next year.

Dujarric said this includes nearly 94,000 children facing severe acute malnutrition, which can become life-threatening without timely treatment.

“As we’ve told you several times from this podium, continued violence forces families to flee their homes, and disrupts children’s access to food, healthcare and nutrition treatment. Some 1.5 million people are internally displaced, half of them children, while nearly half of Haiti’s population is facing food insecurity,” Dujarric said.

“Our humanitarian colleagues warn that the situation might become critical between December of this year and May of next year, when 29 out of 140 municipalities are projected to reach IPC Acute Malnutrition Phase 3, while the neighborhoods of Cité Soleil and Cabaret are expected to reach Phase 4.”

Follow The Gleaner on X, formerly Twitter, and Instagram @JamaicaGleaner and on Facebook @GleanerJamaica. Send us a message on WhatsApp at 1-876-499-0169 or email us at onlinefeedback@gleanerjm.com or editors@gleanerjm.com.