Haiti's hunger crisis deepens, nearly six million people lack sufficient food

(Patria) - Nearly six million people in Haiti are expected to face acute food insecurity in the coming months, highlighting how gang violence, mass displacement, and economic problems are holding the Caribbean nation in the grip of a deepening humanitarian crisis, according to a new assessment released on Thursday, Reuters reported.

Around 5.8 million Haitians, more than half the population, are facing acute food insecurity, according to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), and more than 1.8 million of them are in emergency phase and urgently need food assistance.

The crisis has been fueled by worsening insecurity, economic shocks, and repeated disruptions to markets and agriculture, the report states. Armed groups have expanded their control in parts of the country, while more than 1.4 million people have been displaced, straining food supplies and pushing vulnerable households deeper into hunger.

The latest IPC projection is slightly below a previous estimate of 5.91 million people facing acute food insecurity, and the number in the emergency category has also slightly decreased, improvements that agencies have partly attributed to food aid, easing inflation, and better harvest conditions in some areas.

The World Food Programme (WFP) stated that sustained food assistance has helped around 200,000 Haitians to escape the emergency phase of hunger since last year, but humanitarian groups have said some recent successes are fragile.

"Fighting hunger is key to restoring stability in Haiti. We cannot build peace if families cannot feed their children," WFP Haiti Country Director Wanja Kaaria said in a statement.

Humanitarian agencies have warned that conditions could worsen again without additional support, citing rising global fuel prices caused by the war in Iran, which has further burdened transportation and agricultural production costs.