The United Nations World Food Program announced on Monday that it is facing a shortage of funds and will not be able to help 100,000 people in Haiti who are in urgent need this month.
The 25% reduction comes as 4.9 million people in the country of nearly 11 million need help finding food, a record, the agency said.
Jean-Martin Bauer, the agency’s director for Haiti, says it couldn’t come at a worse time as Haitians face violence, insecurity, economic disruption and climatic shocks.
The agency has warned that its Haiti response plan is only 16% funded and that it will not be able to provide food to a total of 750,000 Haitians unless it gets 121 million US$ by the end of the year.
“Unless we receive immediate funding, further devastating cuts cannot be ruled out,” Bauer warned.
So far this year, the World Food Program has provided more than 450,000 school children with hot meals, often the only food they receive during the day.
Relative to the country’s population, the number of Haitians facing urgent food insecurity is the second highest in the world, with nearly five million people struggling to eat every day, according to the agency. It is also expected that 115,000 children under the age of 5 will suffer from malnutrition this year, a 30% increase compared to last year.
The violence of criminal organizations has aggravated the situation, paralyzing the transport of goods and preventing people from leaving their homes.