The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has alerted that the number of severely malnourished children under the age of five in Haiti stands to double this year if not addressed. The international organization also warned that some of these children could die if they do not receive timely treatment.
This is in addition to UNICEF saying that the latest food insecurity data on the nation indicates that one in four Haitians is acutely hungry.
“Severe acute malnutrition can and should be treated right now to save children’s lives in Haiti,” said Jean Gough, UNICEF Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean. “We can’t look the other way and ignore one of the least funded humanitarian crises in the region. Without additional, urgent funding in the next few weeks, the life-saving treatment we are providing against malnutrition will be discontinued and some children will be at risk of dying.”
In addition to the current coronavirus pandemic, UNICEF said children’s lives in the French-speaking Caribbean country have been increasingly affected by rising violence, a lack of access to nutrition services and clean water, as well as extreme weather conditions, including hurricanes.
In 2020, UNICEF said it, with government and partners, treated 33,372 acutely malnourished children across Haiti, by providing nutrition supplies and medicines. The UN agency said it expects to run out, in June, of Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF) for the treatment of acute malnutrition, owing to insufficient funding.
UNICEF said it has requested three million US dollars to purchase essential supplies and medicine and carry out preventive and treatment programs, warning that without these funds, thousands of Haitian children will no longer receive life-saving assistance.
“In an environment as precarious as Haiti, every child’s life we save today can be in danger again tomorrow – unless we move beyond just treating malnutrition to preventing it before it strikes,” Gough said.
UNICEF has reported the disruption of health services since the global health crisis began last year, along with a sharp decline in child immunizations linked to parental concerns. This has left less than one in 10 children in Haiti completely unvaccinated and nearly six in 10 insufficiently protected, UNICEF said.
Of those who are not fully vaccinated, UNICEF said four in 10 live mostly in impoverished urban settings, which are characterized by lack of access to essential services and violence.
“Increased family healthcare support at the community level will boost confidence in routine immunization and enable every home to access nutrition services every day.”
For 2021, UNICEF said it needs US$48.9 million to meet the humanitarian needs of 1.5 million people in Haiti, including more than 700,000 children. To date, the appeal has remained almost completely underfunded, UNICEF said.
