PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — A new report predicts that over half of Haiti’s population will face severe hunger through June, with an estimated 8,400 individuals living in temporary shelters on the brink of starvation. This grim outlook is attributed to relentless gang violence and the country’s ongoing economic downfall, as determined by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, a collaborative initiative under the United Nations.
According to the analysis, the number of people experiencing severe hunger has swollen by more than 300,000 since last year, now totaling approximately 5.7 million. Among those affected is Jackie Jean-Jacques and his family, who lost their home due to gang conflicts and have been living in a cramped makeshift shelter for over a year. Jean-Jacques shared, “There are days where the kids have to live on sugar water and bread. It hurts me to see that.”
Once a bus driver, Jean-Jacques can no longer afford to rent a vehicle or buy gas. He also fears the possibility of gang attacks on public transportation. His wife attempts to support the family by selling small items on the street, but he laments, “This is not enough to feed us.”
Previously, food and clean water were regularly distributed at shelters, but aid has reduced following a significant cut in U.S. foreign aid contracts, which took effect in late February. The report released this week emphasizes that funding has become uncertain since March 2025. Between August 2024 and February 2025, around 977,000 Haitians received humanitarian food aid monthly, although the rations have been halved.
The situation for children is equally dire, with UNICEF announcing that approximately 2.85 million children, representing a quarter of Haiti’s child population, suffer from high levels of food insecurity. The organization faces a significant funding deficit of 70%, having assisted just over 4,600 children with severe acute malnutrition this year, a small fraction of the estimated 129,000 children in need.
Concurrently, the United Nations World Food Program needs $53.7 million to continue its essential operations in Haiti in the upcoming months. Kaaria, the program’s country director in Haiti, urged on Thursday, “Right now, we’re fighting to just hold the line on hunger.”
Back in 2014, only a minor 2% of Haiti’s population was food insecure, largely due to controlled gang violence and successful harvests. However, Hurricane Matthew in 2016 devastated much of the country’s agriculture. By 2018, the number of Haitians in severe hunger had grown to over 386,000, and today, the figure is a staggering 5.7 million.
Martin Dickler, the Haiti director for CARE, stated, “This is very alarming. It really is an extremely serious food crisis, and Haiti is one of the worst in the world.” The food scarcity crisis is worsened by a hike in goods’ prices and an inflation rate exceeding 30%. Gang control of significant transportation routes in and out of Port-au-Prince further complicates the supply of resources.
Jean Rose-Bertha, a 40-year-old single mother of two, recounted living almost a year in a shelter after being forced from her home by gangs. She confesses to occasionally resorting to prostitution out of desperation, saying, “I can barely feed them. I sometimes do things I’m not supposed to do.”
Dickler pointed out that women and girls suffer disproportionately during these tough times, often facing greater barriers to accessing sustenance and economic opportunities. “They are left to manage the daily family survival,” he noted. “In food crises, women often eat least and last.”