Underfunding of aid appeal leaves millions of Haitians missing essential support: UN

UNITED NATIONS, Aug. 22 (Xinhua) — Persistent underfunding of Haiti’s 674 million U.S. dollar UN relief plan means millions of people are missing out on essential support, UN humanitarians said on Thursday.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said that stepped-up and sustained funding is needed to stem the deepening humanitarian crisis in the Caribbean nation.
“Displacement has nearly tripled in the last 12 months, with more than 578,000 people having fled their homes in search of safety,” OCHA said. “Half of the newly displaced escaped the capital, Port-au-Prince, to the south of Haiti.”
The humanitarians said 5 million people — half of the Haitian population — are not getting enough to eat. Many lack access to the health care they need, with only one in four hospitals in the country still functioning.
The office said the education of nearly 1.5 million children was disrupted over the past school year, while hundreds of thousands of out-of-school children face the risk of being recruited by the armed groups that have taken over large swaths of the capital.
“Without additional funding, Haiti’s humanitarian crisis will only grow even more severe,” OCHA said. “Eight months into the year, the 2024 humanitarian appeal, which calls for 674 million U.S. dollars, is just over one-third funded with 227 million dollars received. This is the same low level of funding that we have seen for the humanitarian response in Haiti over the past five years.”
OCHA said that while funding is down, additional resources are urgently needed to stem the crisis.
“It is critical to find sustainable solutions to the humanitarian, development, security and other challenges that Haiti is facing,” the office said. ■