PORT-AU-PRINCE — Half of the population in Haiti is not getting enough to eat and barely a quarter of the hospitals are operating at normal levels. And between March and June of this year, the number of internally displaced people shot up 60%, bringing the total number forced out of their homes by armed gangs to 578,000.
Despite the deteriorating humanitarian situation and the consequences of Haiti’s indiscriminate violence, which is now spilling over into communities outside of Port-au-Prince, the country is struggling to attract the world’s help.
On Thursday, the United Nations relaunched a $674 million humanitarian response plan, noting that with less than five months left in the year, it remains severely underfunded. As of August 5, the plan had raised only 24% of the total.
“Given the complexity and dynamic nature of the crisis, it is essential for donors to commit flexible funds, allowing partners to adjust their financing to current priorities,” the U.N. said in its new appeal that’s also seeks more flexibility with the donations in order to address rapidly growing needs.
The tepid response from donors comes as the United States and U.N. continue to appeal for money and equipment for the Kenya-led Multinational Security Support mission, which began deploying in June, and amid rising concerns about growing violence and hunger.
“It is essential for the international community and donors to act now,” the U.N. said. “A funding shortfall could have severe consequences, including endangering the immediate survival of the 3.6 million people targeted by this response plan.”
One of the places feeling the effects of the crisis is Haiti’s Grand’Anse region. Its capital, Jérémie, had been receiving between 200 and 400 people a day fleeing the capital when buses coming from Port-au-Prince were somehow making it through the gang-controlled neighborhoods south of the capital.
Though the bus traffic have slowed, Nadesha Mijoba, who oversees t he Haitian Health Foundation, said organizations like hers continue to receive people. They are often traumatized and suffering from malnutrition.
“Many, many families are arriving in Jérémie,” Mijoba said. “Many are walking very long distances…pregnant women with two, three children or sometimes with only some of their children because they had to leave the others in Port-au-Prince. The stories are endless.”
In many cases the women are hungry, dehydrated and, if pregnant, have not had any prenatal care seven and eight months into their pregnancies. They are also victims of physical and sexual violence at the hands of the armed gangs now controlling more than 80% of the capital.
“And of course, there’s trauma; children who are traumatized, children in shock who will not even talk and have to go through therapy,” said Mijoba. “We have put over 40 children in school that came from Port-au-Prince already, and I know we’re going to have more this year to start the school year in Jérémie.”
The Haitian Health Foundation and other healthcare organizations, she said, “are trying to do the impossible” in the face of the violence and the humanitarian fallout.
Skyler Badenoch, who runs Hope for Haiti in Les Cayes, says his staff is also seeing the effects as clinics both in city and rural areas find themselves filled to over capacity on a daily basis with people arriving from Port-au-Prince.
Many of those people were already struggling to get care even before armed gangs’ repeated attacks forced the closure of the State University Hospital of Haiti in March and put the country at significant risk for epidemics.
Schools are also affected, said Badenoch. During the past school year his staff saw a 10% increase in enrollment as children arrived from the capital.
“While humanitarian response is essential in the current context to meet the urgent needs of the most vulnerable and save lives, it is also crucial to address the root causes of these humanitarian needs,” the U.N. said. “This requires simultaneous efforts from other partners and authorities in the sectors of development, peacebuilding, and security.”
The U.N. says the dramatic increase in the displacement of people outside of Port-au-Prince, particularly in the southern region, is a major concern.
Basic social services such as education, health and water, sanitation and hygiene, which were already insufficient to meet the needs of the local population, are now severely strained, the U.N. statement added.
The French emergency medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders said that of the nearly 600,000 Haitians forced from their homes, 112,000 of them are living in 96 informal shelters in the Port-au-Prince area, including schools, churches and sports fields.
“Many of these sites lack water and sanitation facilities, such as latrines. This leads to difficult and dangerous living conditions, and increases the risk of disease,” the group said in a recent statement requesting more international assistance.
The aid group said it has provided more than 4,500,000 liters of treated water in 15 sites and trained the managers of the sites in water chlorination and hygiene. They have also built or renovated nine latrines and nine emergency showers and distributed hygiene kits.
“However, the need for treated water and sanitation in displacement sites and neighborhoods affected by violence exceeds largely what MSF can provide,” the charity said, adding that as of Aug. 31 its water and sanitation services will cease to operate in those sites.
Banatte Daniel, a manager at one of the sites, said conditions remain difficult despite the charity’s efforts.
“The international community must intervene and support these people in vulnerable situations in order to avoid a greater catastrophe,” Daniel said.
The U.N. says current data shows a worsening of the food situation as half the population faces acute hunger and more than 200,000 people are on the verge of famine. And the violence is getting worse.
“Since 29 February, incidents of violence that began earlier in the year have multiplied,” the report said. In the first quarter of this year, nearly 2,500 people were killed or injured.
Further complicating the situation is the ongoing forced deportations of Haitians from the United States, the Dominican Republic, Turks and Caicos and other neighboring countries. Since the start of the year nearly 100,000 Haitians have been repatriated, including 182 the U.S. Coast Guard said Wednesday were sent back after an interdiction on Saturday about 57 miles south of the Turks and Caicos.
By JACQUELINE CHARLES/Miami Herald