>  Alerts archive   >  issue 14

Haiti

  • Between October 2019 and February 2020, it is estimated that over 1 million people are in an Emergency food security situation (IPC Phase 4) and over 2.6 million people are in a Crisis food security situation (IPC Phase 3), representing approximately 3.7 million people in need of urgent action to protect and save lives and livelihoods.  For the projected period, from March to June 2020, if nothing is done, the number of people expected to be in Emergency is estimated to increase to over 1.2 million people,  and those in Crisis to almost 2.9 million people, representing over 4 million people who will need urgent action. 
  • Rising staple food prices (annual inflation of about 22.6%), the depreciation of the Haitian gourd against the dollar by about 24% year-on-year (October 2018-2019), socio-political unrest and deteriorating security conditions have greatly reduced access to food for the poorest households.  In rural areas, the 2018 drought, which lasted until the first half of 2019, caused agricultural production in many parts of the country to decline by about 12% compared to last year.

Actions Needed

Emergency response

Considering the severity of food insecurity in areas classified as IPC Phase 3 (Crisis), urgent action is required for the poorest and most affected households to enable them to better meet their immediate food needs and prevent the implementation of additional harmful strategies. Also, for areas with prevalences of Global Acute Malnutrition reaching the WHO alert threshold (5-10%), specific actions for the prevention and management of Global Acute Malnutrition will also have to be put in place. This type of intervention should be prioritized for areas with a large number of people in the Emergency phase (IPC Phase 4).

Livelihood support

Considering that vulnerable households have been affected by recurrent shocks in recent years (drought, cyclones, rising prices), there is an erosion of the livelihoods of affected populations who need support to rebuild and develop their livelihoods and assets. This assistance should take the form of ad hoc support (inputs, credits, equipment, etc.) for the implementation of the winter (2019) and spring (2020) harvests. These actions will be prioritized in areas with the highest percentages of the population using Emergency adaptation strategies.

Integration of emergency and development

Considering that structural factors (agricultural development, access to basic services, governance,...) have a strong influence on household acute food insecurity, it is important to better integrate emergency and development interventions and rethink intervention strategies in order to have more sustainable and structural effects on household food and nutrition security. 

Population in IPC Phases

IPC Classification Maps

October 2019 - February 2020
March - June 2020 (Projection)

IPC

 

Credits

The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) is an innovative tool for improving food security analysis and decision-making. By providing a set of analytical tools and procedures, IPC allows governments and partners to work together to classify the severity and magnitude of acute and chronic food insecurity, and acute malnutrition according to scientific international standards.

Header Photo
UNOCHA HAITI

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