Haiti: UNICEF needs US$97 million to bring humanitarian aid to nearly 1 million people in 2022

PORT-AU-PRINCE / PANAMA CITY, 7 December 2021 - UNICEF is seeking US$97 million to meet the urgent needs of 950,000 people, including 520,000 children in 2022. In 2021, Haiti has faced multiple crises caused natural hazard-related disasters, persistent political and socioeconomic crisis, gang-related insecurity and the Haitian-Dominican migration challenges.

“All along this year, Haitian women and children have fallen from a crisis to the next. They have experienced long-lasting trauma from kidnappings, displacements, earthquake and expulsions. They have been put under pressure for too long. Their resilience capacities have been stretched to the limit and they need support to overcome these crises and recover,” said UNICEF Haiti Representative Bruno Maes.

On 14 August 2021, a 7.2 magnitude earthquake hit the southwestern departments of Sud, Grand’Anse, and Nippes, compounded on 16 August by heavy rains from tropical depression Grace. Over 2,200 people died, 12,700 people were injured, and some 130,000 homes were destroyed or damaged. More than 90 health institutions and 1,000 schools have been damaged or destroyed. An estimated 230,000 children are at risk of losing out on education.

The disaster struck Haiti as the country was reeling from the assassination on 7 July of President Jovenel Moïse and an escalation of gang violence marked by killings, kidnappings and houses put on fire causing the displacements of 19,000 people including 15,000 women and children.

Since last September, more than 12,000 Haitian migrants including 23 percent women and 16 percent children were returned from the United States, Mexico, Cuba, The Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands, or brought back to Haiti by the Coast Guard, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM). In November, more than 100 pregnant and newly delivering women who sought care in Dominican health facilities were returned to Haiti with their newborn babies.

Gang-related insecurity triggered a fuel crisis affected health service deliveries in October. Some 50 health facilities in Haiti including 15 in the metropolitan area of Port-au-Prince could not provide services to hundreds of pregnant women and children due to fuel shortages, which also stopped or considerably delayed COVID-19 and malnutrition treatment services.

From January to September 2021, more than 12,000 people have been victims of physical and sexual violence. While UNICEF estimated over 100 women and children kidnapped in the first eight months of the year based on official figures, some Haitian human rights groups counted more than 800 people kidnapped.

As part of its Humanitarian Action for Children, UNICEF’s priority is to respond to urgent needs:

• 327,800 children will be screened for wasting and 38,500 among them treated for severe acute malnutrition, while 62,730 primary caregivers of children will receive infant and young child feeding counselling
• 520,000 children and women will access primary health care, 110,000 children vaccinated against measles and 3,000 healthcare personnel and community health workers provided with personal protective equipment
• 605,000 people will access safe water for drinking and domestic needs and critical hygiene supplies while 230,000 people will be able to use safe and appropriate sanitation facilities
• 57,900 children and parents and caregivers will access mental health and psychosocial support, 40,000 women and children access gender-based violence risk mitigation, prevention and response, 3,650 unaccompanied and separated children provided with alternative care or reunified
• 267,000 children will access formal or non-formal education, 125,500 children will receive school kits and 3,000 households reached with humanitarian cash transfers while 800 classrooms rehabilitated or reconstructed including temporary learning centers
• 15,000 households will receive UNICEF funded multipurpose humanitarian cash transfers, 100,000 people will be reached through messaging on prevention and access to basic social services and 20,000 people will have access to established accountability mechanisms. Some 485,000 people will have access to a safe and accessible channel to report sexual exploitation and abuse by aid workers.

In 2022, UNICEF will scale up its emergency interventions in Haiti provided that the US$97 million requested are received.

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For more information, please contact:

Ndiaga Seck, UNICEF Haiti, +509 37 44 61 99, nseck@unicef.org

Laurent Duvillier, UNICEF Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean, + 507 6169 9886, lduvillier@unicef.org

Alfonso F. Reca, UNICEF Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean, +507 69412277, afernandezreca@unicef.org