Countries

Overview

Haiti ranks 148th of 179 countries on the United Nations Development Programme Human Development Index; 76 percent of Haitians live on less than US$2 per day and 56 percent on less than US$1 per day.

Haiti remains a food deficit country. It relies heavily on imported food – 48 percent of national consumed food is imported, 47 percent is produced locally while food assistance fills 5 percent of the national needs.

One third of newborn babies are born underweight. Acute undernutrition among children under 5 is 9 percent. Chronic undernutrition is 24 percent and 50 percent of pregnant women and two thirds of children under 5 are affected by anemia. One in five Haitians dies before the age of 40.

It is estimated that more than 2.4 million people in Haiti are food-insecure.

National surveys show that 72 percent of children aged 6–12 in rural areas suffer from iodine deficiency; 32 percent of school-age children are infected by intestinal parasites. In Haiti, almost 30,000 babies suffer of mental deficiencies because their mothers suffered from iodine deficiency during pregnancy.

Despite some reduction, the HIV rate remains the highest in the region. It is slightly higher for women than for men, with marked geographical differences. The epidemic represents a public health problem and is part of the government priorities listed in its Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP). Tuberculosis (TB) has re-emerged together with HIV, because the two pathologies are linked: 32 percent of HIV/AIDS patients are also infected with TB.

Natural disasters have only worsened Haiti’s plight. During the 2008 hurricane season, severe storms devastated more than 70 percent of Haiti’s agriculture and most of its roads, bridges and other infrastructure, creating pockets of severe malnutrition and killing 800 people. Nearly all agricultural land was flooded, resulting in the loss of the corn, bean and banana harvest, 800 people were killed and 3.3 million people were left in need of food support.

The floods came on top of high food and fuel prices, all of which puts the country in a highly volatile situation

WFP activities

At the outset of the 2009 hurricane season WFP and other agencies are assisting hurricane-affected as well as vulnerable populations with a variety of feeding programmes as well as food-for-work programmes to mitigate future disasters. 

The National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) forecasts 11 tropical storms and six hurricanes for the Caribbean region this year. The official hurricane season began on June 1.

The most time sensitive of WFP’s interventions involves establishing stockpiles of emergency food and water purification chemicals to aid Haitians should 2009’s hurricane season wreak the kind of damage seen in 2008. The agency’s has dispersed 63 go-anywhere 6X6 trucks throughout the country. WFP has prepositioned 112 metric tonnes of high energy biscuits to feed groups during the first five days after a disaster in 13 strategic areas. Plans have been made for emergency blanket supplementary feeding to all children under two years in areas of high food insecurity.

To build up 20,000 metric tonnes of foodstocks for a potential new disaster, WFP Haiti had to borrow US$7 million. It is now appealing to donors to fulfill their pledges for 2009 to build an adequate post-disaster stockpile for the September to December period.

To lessen the shock of new extreme weather events, WFP and its partners are playing a key role in disaster mitigation programmes. These include Food For Work Programmes (FFW)  – the terracing of hillsides to prevent future mudslides, the cleaning and construction of drainage ditches and canals and the reconstruction of roads and other infrastructure and the rehabilitation of agricultural land by the local populace. Through its FFW programmes, WFP has provided food to 260,000 beneficiaries.

At the same time as WFP helps victims of 2008’s unprecedented series of hurricanes and tropical storms it is battling Haiti’s chronic food insecurity.

A June 25 government survey indicated that global acute malnutrition among children 6-59 months in certain areas of the country increased from 4.3% to 6.2% and the prevalence of global chronic malnutrition in certain departments peaks at 31.7%.  New sub-offices were opened in Jacmel and Gonaives in addition to the one in Cap Haitian.

Since January, WFP has reached more than 449,000 children through school feeding and more than 137,000 malnourished children and pregnant and lactating mothers through supplementary feeding activities.

WFP Haiti’s current two-year PRRO (Protracted Relief and Recovery Operation) involves both relief and recovery from the setbacks of 2008. The recovery component supports anemic mothers and underweight children under 5 years of age, assists people living with HIV and AIDS and/or suffering from tuberculosis. The relief component allows for a rapid response, in a flexible and adequate manner, to emergency requirements, in favour of population affected by natural disasters or civil unrest.

Through the same intervention, WFP continues to implement the largest school feeding programme in Haiti, providing a daily meal to more than 400,000 pupils, in some 850 primary schools. School canteens and nutritional activities are operational in various departments. For the past two years, WFP is supporting the governmental National Programme for the Fight against Parasites, providing de-worming tablets, twice a year to more than 400,000 schoolchildren.

Following last year’s food crisis, WFP Haiti revised its PRRO. Programmes involving Mother and Child Health (MCH) and People Living With HIV/AIDS and Tuberculosis (PLWHA/TB) were expanded. To encourage school attendance, at the beginning of the school year – a critical, high expenditure period with tuition payments and the costs of school uniforms – family rations will be distributed in food insecure urban zones to a total of 1.1 million people.

WFP has been present in Haiti since 1969.