More than half of Haitians continue to face food crisis

The update came on Friday, in a release by the World Food Programme (WFP), which has been working with the government and partners to assist 2.7 million people in Haiti by providing emergency food assistance, school meals, social protection programmes, and assistance to smallholder farmers.

“These small improvements to food security numbers must not lead to complacency,” warned Wanja Kaaria, WFP Haiti Country Director. “Elevated fuel prices and the resulting rise in food costs risk rolling back these gains, pushing already vulnerable families deeper into crisis and further destabilising the situation.”

For almost a decade, Haiti has experienced an ever-deepening food security crisis, driven by violence related to armed groups, political upheaval, economic crisis and high levels of vulnerability to extreme weather, such as Hurricane Melissa which struck the south in late 2025. 

Aid is distributed by the World Food Programme in a downtown neighbourhood of Port-au-Prince.

WFP is calling for robust measures and funding to provide emergency relief and invest in long-term solutions to address the food insecurity that affects more than one in two Haitians. “Tackling hunger is vital to restoring stability in Haiti,” said Ms. Kaaria. “We cannot build peace when families have nothing to feed their children.” 

WFP requires $332 million to maintain its crucial operations over the next 12 months and, if enough funding is secured, plans to reach more than 2.7 million people with critical emergency and resilience-building support. The $880 million Humanitarian Response Plan for Haiti is just under 20 per cent funded, with only $172 million received.

Violence and displacement spread across the country

Armed attacks earlier this week have displaced hundreds of people from the South-East department. According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), violence on 13 April in the municipality of Marigot displaced more than 1,300 people.

IOM notes that this is the first time that displacement of this scale, directly linked to armed attacks, has been recorded in the South-East department, an area that has previously served as a reception zone for people displaced by violence elsewhere in the country. More than 165,000 men, women and children are currently hosted privately across the department.

Conflict has displaced more than 1.4 million in Haiti, resulting in roughly 300,000 people living in overcrowded and unhygienic temporary shelters in the capital, Port-au-Prince.