Haiti Appeal
Humanitarian Action for Children
UNICEF’s Humanitarian Action for Children appeal helps support the agency’s work as it provides conflict- and disaster-affected children with access to water, sanitation, nutrition, education, health and protection services. Return to main appeal page.
Haiti snapshot
Appeal highlights
- In 2023, UNICEF estimates that more than 4 million children will need humanitarian assistance in Haiti. Affecting them are many difficult conditions: increased gang-related violence, internal displacement, civil unrest, political instability as the country still reels from the killing of the President and indefinitely postponed elections, a socioeconomic crisis, rising food insecurity and malnutrition, the resurgence of cholera and the continued expulsion of Haitian migrants from several countries in the Americas, including the neighbouring Dominican Republic.
- UNICEF supports the Government and humanitarian partners in ensuring access to and continuity of basic services for affected children and families. UNICEF provides water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), education, health, nutrition, child protection and social protection services, and is also responding to the resurgence of cholera. An important component of UNICEF's work is disaster risk reduction and emergency preparedness activities.
- UNICEF is requesting US$210.3 million to meet the humanitarian needs of Haitian children and their families in 2023.
Key planned results for 2023
652,200 children and women accessing primary health care
1 million children accessing formal or non-formal education, including early learning
1.3 million people accessing a sufficient quantity and quality of water
Funding requirements for 2023
Country needs and strategy
Humanitarian needs
In Haiti, nearly 59 per cent of the population lives below the poverty line, with limited access to basic services. Haiti ranks 163 out of 191 countries on the 2021 Human Development Index, and is affected by political turmoil; cholera; poverty; institutional and socioeconomic crises; and natural disasters. Together, these challenges have resulted in persistent humanitarian needs.
A resurgence of cholera in Haiti was confirmed on 2 October 2022. As of 10 November, 734 cases had been confirmed in four departments. The cholera outbreak is layered over major social unrest and gang-related violence, which has gripped the country since September. At the same time, severe fuel shortages restrict utilities and the delivery of basic services, including water and health care. In 2020, 33 per cent of the population was deprived of access to a basic water service, and UNICEF estimates that needs will increase with more people affected by the current overall deterioration. What's more, the impact of fuel restrictions on medical facilities and workers prevents some services from being provided, with severe implications for the management of the cholera outbreak. The fuel restrictions also impact aid delivery, data collection and transportation of test samples and results.
September 2022 saw a peak in violent protests, which had been building since mid-2021 due to gang violence and the killing of the President. Civil unrest and gang violence have directly affected access to education and health services for at least 1.5 million people, while more than 4 million children continue experiencing malnutrition and poor access to education, protection and basic services. The premises of United Nations agencies and non-governmental organizations have been targets of violent lootings. At least 96,000 people are internally displaced in Haiti due to gang violence and civil unrest, including unaccompanied children exposed to abuse, exploitation and violence.
A nutrition assessment in Cité Soleil, an impoverished neighbourhood in the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area, revealed that 20 per cent of children under age 5 are wasted. All told, 4.7 million people in Haiti are facing acute hunger. Where health services are not closed or damaged, irregular availability of electricity, water and fuel jeopardizes activities, aggravating the cholera risks. Around 4 million children aged 5-19 years risk losing learning opportunities. In 2022, 60 per cent of 3,000 schools assessed by UNICEF and the Ministry of National Education and Vocational Training have been vandalized, and more than 500,000 children have lost access to education.
Haitians also face natural hazards and the continued expulsion of Haitian migrants from several countries in the Americas including the neighbouring Dominican Republic. Furthermore, reconstruction efforts remain limited following the 2021 earthquake in the south, with more than 250,000 children there still without access to adequate schools and several health centres still in need of reconstruction.
UNICEF’s strategy
In collaboration with the Government, UNICEF will work with partners to ensure access to and continuity of essential services while responding to cholera and urban violence and strengthening disaster risk reduction and preparedness. Humanitarian cash transfers will be provided to improve access to basic goods and services.
In urban areas affected by gang violence, while responding to the needs of internally displaced people UNICEF will also invest in UNICEF access and engagement capacities to better address the needs of those unable to leave including supporting partners with access opportunities. UNICEF will focus on mobile teams, distributions of critical supplies and promoting community engagement, ownership and resilience.
In response to the cholera outbreak, the case area targeted interventions (CATI) approach 30 will be employed, together with community sensitization, support to treatment centres and WASH responses.
UNICEF will support continued access to essential health care services, immunization and maternal and child health, including in earthquake-affected areas, and will also reinforce health supply chain management.
UNICEF will scale up treatment of severe wasting in children with screening, referral and provision of quality therapeutic care, including in areas affected by cholera, while promoting infant and young child feeding practices. UNICEF will provide nutrition supplies, strengthen end-user monitoring and information management and will complete a SMART survey.
WASH interventions will focus on access to sufficient safe drinking water, sanitation and hygiene services. Prevention of waterborne and infectious diseases will be prioritized through water trucking, household water treatment, rehabilitation of WASH infrastructure, waste disposal, hygiene promotion and distribution of hygiene kits. WASH in schools in the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area will also be prioritized.
UNICEF will promote safe access and return to learning through the provision of school supplies, access to multiple education pathways, psychosocial support and cholera and disaster risks prevention. Conditional cash grants will be provided to schools that enroll vulnerable children and improve educational infrastructure and teachers’ capacity management, using education as a gateway to strengthen social cohesion and promote peacebuilding.
Protection of children exposed to violence, including gender-based violence, exploitation and family separation - notably for internally displaced people and migrants - will be prioritized. Specialized services and community-based structures will identify vulnerable children and provide adequate care and referrals.
UNICEF will continue supporting sectoral and national coordination, co-leading the WASH, education and nutrition sectors and the child protection subsector; UNICEF will also co-lead the cholera response with the Government, the World Health Organization and the Pan American Health Organization. Priorities include pre-positioning supplies and community mobilization to foster social and behavioural change and information on rights, entitlements and available services. Gender equality and accountability to affected populations will be mainstreamed throughout the response. For the prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse, child-friendly awareness-raising material and reporting channels will be disseminated.
UNICEF will support the strengthening of existing national social protection system to appropriately target and swiftly scale up humanitarian cash transfers to people affected by urban violence, with a focus on reaching those hardest to reach in order to improve access to basic goods and services.
Programme targets
Find out more about UNICEF's work
Highlights
Humanitarian Action is at the core of UNICEF’s mandate to realize the rights of every child. This edition of Humanitarian Action for Children – UNICEF’s annual humanitarian fundraising appeal – describes the ongoing crises affecting children in Haiti; the strategies that we are using to respond to these situations; and the donor support that is essential in this response.
