Half of Haitians facing hunger as violence persists

New report says 5.41 million people are experiencing ‘high levels of acute food insecurity’, with gang wars and inflation the chief drivers of the crisis.

Almost 48 percent of people in Haiti are experiencing acute food shortages amid ongoing armed gang violence, a new report says.

The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) said in the report released on Monday that 5.41 million people in the beleaguered Caribbean nation were facing “high levels of acute food insecurity” between August 2024 and February 2025.

Of the overall total, 6,000 people are “experiencing catastrophic levels of hunger”, the world-hunger watchdog warned.

“Haiti continues to face a worsening humanitarian crisis, with alarming rates of armed gang violence disrupting daily life, forcing more people to flee their homes and levels of acute food insecurity to rise,” the report reads.

Haiti was already reeling from years of unrest when powerful armed groups – often with ties to the country’s political and business leaders – launched attacks on prisons and other state institutions across the capital, Port-au-Prince, in February.