Haiti became the world’s first Black-led republic when it overthrew French colonial control in 1804. However, the country is regularly exposed to natural hazards and the effects of climate change and faces recurring socio-economic and political challenges. The roots of these challenges include France forcing Haiti to pay reparations which indebted future generations and hampered economic progress for decades.
Gang violence against the Haitian people has spread throughout the country, reaching isolated rural areas as the government’s presence diminished. Pre-existing vulnerabilities including institutional weaknesses were exacerbated by the growing number of attacks on individuals, families and social infrastructure. Heightened insecurity has also further compromised the humanitarian space and forced some organizations to operate under precarious security conditions.
Haiti also faces high levels of disaster risk. Experts predict the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season will be “above normal”, which puts people’s lives and assets at risk. Preparations for the hurricane season are complicated by the armed gangs.
The 2024 Humanitarian Response Plan released in late February requires $674 million to reach 3.6 million people and donors had funded just 23.2% as of mid-June.
The situation in Haiti is complex, fluid and dynamic. Funders should invest time to understand the context, maintain contact with partners in the country, and provide flexible support for local organizations that are able to address immediate needs and strengthen resilience.
(Photo: In Haiti, 5.5 million people require humanitarian aid, the crisis has worsened significantly in recent weeks, March 2024. Photo credit: US Department of State via X)
Since the assassination of former President Jovenel Moïse in July 2021, Haiti has faced increased levels of gang violence.
A lengthy delay to elections led to mass protests calling for then Acting Prime Minister Ariel Henry’s removal. In March 2024, Prime Minister Henry announced his resignation and the creation of a transitional council to replace the government.
In May 2024, the council named Garry Conille, a former prime minister and UN development expert, as acting prime minister to lead the country’s transitional government. Haiti’s transitional council appointed a new cabinet in June 2024, marking the final step in rebuilding the government.
The council’s work is not finished though with its non-renewable mandate expiring on Feb. 7, 2026, when a new president is scheduled to be sworn in.
Latest Updates
What we’re watching: Weekly disaster update, May 6
Key facts
- Haiti is one of nine countries in the world facing the risk of famine.
- The World Food Programme (WFP) reported a 27% increase in the cost of the food basket between January 2024 and May 22, 2024. As the cost of essential items rises, household incomes continue to drop in the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area.
- Over 1,554 people were killed and 826 injured due to gang violence in the first three months of 2024, according to a report by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.
- More than 30 medical centers and hospitals in Port-au-Prince, the capital, have been forced to close due to violence and lack of medical supplies.
- As of June 2024, there are an estimated 578,074 internally displaced people (IDP) in Haiti, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), almost 60% more than the previous assessment published in March 2024.
- Over 13,000 people were forcibly returned to Haiti in just March 2024, despite gang violence and instability. This is a 46% increase compared to February 2024.
- In 2023, more than 216,000 people were returned to Haiti by different countries.
- In 2023, a total of 893 humanitarian access incidents were reported due to violence between police and gangs.
Hunger
Haiti is one of nine countries in the world facing the risk of famine. Nearly half of its population is acutely food insecure, mainly located in the Grand’Anse department, the Artibonite valley, and parts of Port-au-Prince and surrounding areas.
Famine is a highly technical classification that meets specific criteria. It is a complex problem, but much can be done before hunger becomes a catastrophic crisis, including early action to prevent food insecurity and famine.
The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) is a common scale for classifying the severity and magnitude of food insecurity and acute malnutrition. The scale includes five phases, with Phase 1 meaning there is no or minimal acute food insecurity and Phase 5 meaning famine has been reached.
IPC data revealed that approximately 4.97 million people (50% of the analyzed population) face high levels of acute food insecurity for the period March to June 2024. This includes approximately 1.64 million people classified in IPC Phase 4 (Emergency).
Key drivers to the deterioration in food security in 2024 according to the IPC include “increased gang violence, rising prices, low agricultural production due to below-normal rainfall, and the lack of previously planned humanitarian aid.”
According to the Hunger Hotspots June to October 2024 Outlook Report, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and WFP identified Haiti as one of five countries where “urgent action is required” where starvation is a major threat.
Months of blockages due to gang control and violence have hampered aid organization’s ability to support people and communities, particularly in the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area.
The re-opening of the international airport in the capital in late May will help with the distribution of aid. A WFP-chartered plane delivering medical supplies on May 30 marked the first time a UN humanitarian cargo plane landed in Port-au-Prince since March.
Displacement
As of June 2024, there are an estimated 578,074 internally displaced people (IDP) in Haiti according to IOM. This figure is an increase of nearly 60% from the previous assessments in March.
There was a sharp increase in the number of IDPs in the provinces (outside Port-au-Prince) where it increased by 95%. The displacement of people to the provinces is a result of worsening security situation in the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area.
Nationwide, most IDPs are hosted by host families. An estimated 80% of IDPs are hosted by families compared to 20% in formal sites. IOM says it remains crucial to support host communities, particularly in the South, so they can continue hosting IDPs. Host communities are often not built to absorb large population increases and may not have sufficient resources for displaced people.
Due to the dangerous and deteriorating situation, some Haitians have fled the country in search of safety and a better life. While risking their lives, those who engage in “irregular pathways” are often forcibly returned to Haiti by the country they entered.
In 2023, more than 216,000 people were returned to Haiti by different countries. Many are returned after living months or years outside the country and face challenges adjusting to life in Haiti.
Advocacy groups have called upon the Biden Administration to extend and redesignate “Temporary Protected Status” for Haiti, which expires in early August. Under this program, recipients can remain in the U.S. and work without fear of deportation.
The Dominican Republic has closed its land border with Haiti since the surge in violence. Despite ongoing conflict and insecurity, the Dominican Republic forcibly returned 13,000 people to Haiti in February 2024.
High disaster risk
Haiti is highly vulnerable to disasters, with over 96% of the population exposed to at least two different natural hazards, such as hurricanes, flooding and earthquakes.
The World Bank’s country risk profile says that Haiti’s geographic location in the path of Atlantic hurricanes, combined with the steep topography of its western region, from which all major river systems flow to the coast, makes the country particularly vulnerable to hydrometeorological disasters.
The conditions for disaster are created by a combination of factors, such as high poverty levels, the weakness of infrastructure, unregulated urban expansion and the fragility of government institutions.
While large-scale, catastrophic disasters including the 2010 earthquake, Hurricane Matthew in 2016 and 2021 earthquake garner significant attention and some resources for recovery, lower-attention disasters often go unnoticed while eroding development gains, putting lives at risk, and testing household and community resilience.
For example, heavy rain across large portions of the country on June 3, 2024, resulted in flash flooding and significant localized damage. The disaster flooded homes, forced evacuations, and led to agricultural and livestock losses.
Philanthropy’s flexibility and ability to operate on long time horizons means funders are uniquely positioned to invest not only in disaster response but in mitigation and preparedness. The latter disaster phases are chronically underfunded and would contribute to increasing the likelihood of preventing future disasters while strengthening resilience.
Health
“Haiti’s health system is on the verge of collapse,” said Bruno Maes, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Representative in Haiti. “The combination of violence, mass displacement, dangerous epidemics, and increasing malnutrition has bent Haiti’s health system, but the strangling of supply chains may be what breaks it.” UNICEF estimates that six out of ten hospitals in Haiti “are barely operational.”
As of the end of May 2024, more than 30 medical centers and hospitals had closed, including the biggest, L’Hôpital de l’Université d’État d’Haïti, due to vandalism, looting or being located in insecure areas.
Médecins Sans Frontières said people with chronic illnesses, such as tuberculosis and HIV, are at high risk of their conditions worsening. Additionally, unsanitary conditions in the displacement sites heighten the risk of waterborne diseases like cholera.
Women and children
Women and children are among the populations most affected by the humanitarian crisis and violence.
The UN has estimated that 30% to 50% of armed group members are children. Children are often forced to join or also join out of desperation when there are no other options for survival.
About 90% of Haiti’s population live in poverty and three million children remain in urgent need of humanitarian assistance. Many schools have been forced to close across Port-au-Prince and the metropolitan area, leaving hundreds of thousands of children with no access to education. Human Rights Watch interviewed youth and an article published in June 2024 illustrates why they are disproportionately impacted by the crisis.
A U.N. Human Rights Office report on the human rights situation in Haiti found that it had sharply deteriorated between September 2023 and February 2024.
According to the report, gangs use sexual violence to punish and control people. In many cases, women were raped during gang attacks, and some were forced into exploitative sexual relations. Sexual violence is also used against hostages to coerce families into paying ransoms. Sexual violence remains severely underreported and goes unpunished.
The situation in Haiti is already an emergency; therefore, donors must act immediately by increasing funding for lifesaving assistance. While funders respond to support immediate relief efforts, they should act with the same urgency to build resiliency as well.
Humanitarian access and protection
One of the biggest impediments to reaching communities and distributing aid is the lack of access for humanitarian organizations. Gang autonomy and control of Port-au-Prince and the Artibonite departments have significantly impacted humanitarian aid operations.
The dynamic and constantly changing environment, blockages and security concerns make Haiti a challenging operational context for many international aid organizations. This reality highlights the importance of developing relationships with local organizations and supporting their efforts to provide aid and strengthen resilience since they are often able to access populations in ways that larger aid organizations are not.
According to CARE International, the capacity of local actors is seriously challenged due to operational restraints. Despite this, staff have said, “Give us the means, and we will make sure we deliver, because we know how to manage those complicated situations.”
Food and livelihood support
In their March to June 2024 update, the IPC called for urgent action “to assist the most vulnerable households to reduce their food consumption deficits, avoid a total and irreversible collapse of their livelihoods and save their lives.”
In addition to emergency food assistance, the IPC recommended support for resilience should focus on agriculture and livestock inputs, rural credits and material support.
Haiti remains largely an agrarian economy and agriculture is the primary livelihood for millions. Agriculture, forestry and fisheries account for a fifth of Haiti’s GDP and employ almost half the labor force.
FAO’s focus, as an example of ways to support livelihoods, includes supporting displaced and host families through the provision of cash with agricultural input packages and training. The purpose is to quickly provide resources so crisis affected people can produce their own food and increase their food security.
Shelter and Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH)
The WASH Cluster reported in June 2024 that 20% of displaced people living in displacement sites in Port-au-Prince do not have continuous access to drinking water “due to, among other things, difficulties in access and lack of financial resources.” Unsanitary conditions in the displacement sites heighten the risk of waterborne diseases like cholera.
A survey found that residents in 23 sites were threatened with eviction. Additionally, almost 31% of IDPs must walk more than 10 minutes to access the nearest water source. Latrines are also only available in some IDP sites; 29 sites lack latrines, and just 49% are operational.
Improving access to clean water and adequate sanitation can have a positive ripple effect on health, food security and protection outcomes.
Health care
The health care system in Haiti was already collapsing before the latest rounds of violence.
Haiti is one of five countries in the Americas to face severe health care staff shortages, including doctors, nurses and midwives. The country has .65 doctors and nurses per 1,000 people, which falls well below the World Health Organization recommendation of 4.45 doctors and nurses per 1,000 people.
In the current state of violence, many residents, including health care staff, have fled in search of refuge outside of Port-au-Prince. Hospital workers have also been kidnapped on their way to work, raising alarms within the sector.
In addition to the dire need for medical staff, hospitals and medical facilities also need fuel to generate power for hospitals and medical supplies. The National Ambulance Centre’s referral system faces challenges due to the inability to access gang-controlled areas. Once again, access impediments and violence targeting hospital supplies and staff are significant obstacles to providing care to the wounded.
Health supplies, assistance and staff are critical ongoing needs in Haiti. Funders also must continue to support mental health initiatives, psychological support sessions and recreational therapy sessions.
Protection
Civilians are often subjected to violence, abuse, coercion and deprivation during armed conflict. All humanitarian actors have a responsibility to place protection at the center of humanitarian action. Protection activities aim to reduce and prevent people’s exposure to risks and to ensure respect for the rights of individuals.
In the context of Haiti, the continued displacement of people is creating new protection needs and new challenges for organizations working on gender-based violence (GBV) who have limited operational and financial capacities.
The UN found a 50% increase in sexual violence between 2022 and 2023. Almost 80% of women and girls had reported being subject to some form of GBV.
As risks of GBV increase in overcrowded settings, humanitarian agencies can mitigate some of the dangers, for example, by installing more lighting in IDP sites and ensuring the availability of latrines within each site.
In their Haiti situation report published on June 5, 2024, the UN Population Fund said, “There is an urgent need to mobilize adequate resources to ensure robust protection programming in terms of the provision of basic hygiene items, building women and girls’ resilience through social and economic activities and cash assistance.”
The Center for Disaster Philanthropy has a Global Recovery Fund that provides donors with an efficient, flexible solution to support recovery efforts for people affected by sudden and slow-onset disasters or protracted humanitarian emergencies worldwide.
Contact CDP
Philanthropic contributions
If you would like to make a donation to the CDP Global Recovery Fund, need help with your disaster-giving strategy or want to share how you’re responding to this disaster, please contact development.
(Photo: United States Marines deliver cases of food in support of Joint Task Force-Haiti for a humanitarian assistance and disaster relief mission near Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Aug. 27, 2021. U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Caleb Stelter)
Recovery updates
If you are a responding NGO, please send updates on how you are working in this crisis to Tanya Gulliver-Garcia.
We welcome the republication of our content. Please credit the Center for Disaster Philanthropy.
Philanthropic and government support
CDP has made several grants through various funds to support disaster and crisis response and recovery in Haiti, including:
- Through its Haiti Earthquake Recovery Fund, CDP awarded $505,000 to the Haitian Development Institute (HDI) in 2023 to work with community organizations in earthquake-affected regions and support efforts to build resilience through microgrants, capacity strengthening and disaster preparedness.
- In 2022, CDP awarded a $250,000 grant from the COVID-19 Response Fund to Partners In Health (PIH), in collaboration with partner organization Zanmi Lasante (ZL), to pilot a new Test and Treat approach in Haiti (targeting a catchment population of 600,000) and establish a flexible and replicable primary care model for growth in rapid testing and corresponding outpatient treatment for COVID-19 that can reduce transmission, hospitalization, and death in Haiti.
- CDP grantee partner AVSI received a $159,846 grant to mitigate the harmful effects of the devastating 2021 earthquake on 800 children by providing physical and psychosocial protection and promoting child development through informal education in eight child-friendly spaces.
- Action Against Hunger received $450,000 in 2022 to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on vulnerable communities in the earthquake-affected South department in Haiti by improving access to basic health, WASH and nutrition services for 104,560 people.
Cadre de Liaison Inter-Organization, an alliance of 80 national and international nongovernmental organizations in Haiti, called upon international responses to strengthen coordination and localization.
The following are examples of other philanthropic resources or initiatives:
- The Council on Foundations maintains a page summarizing philanthropy’s response to the Haiti humanitarian crisis.
- On April 17, the Open Society Foundations announced a pledge of $20 million to support Haitian civil society in addressing the political, economic and security crisis currently gripping the country.
- The Network of Engaged International Donors has a list of nongovernment organizations and funds focused on Haiti, including CDP’s funds and several national organizations.
The United Nations Central Emergency Response Fund allocated $12 million to address the dire situation in Haiti. The fund will provide food, water, protection, health care and WASH support to displaced people and host communities.
In 2024, the European Commission allocated $21.7 million (20 million euros) to Haiti. The funding aims to address survival needs, strengthen the capacity of communities to respond to the crisis and improve coordination of humanitarian actors.
The U.S. government committed $33 million and an additional $25 million in humanitarian assistance in a March 2024 announcement. The initial $33 million will support WFP, the UNICEF and nongovernmental partners to provide in-kind food assistance and health services, among other humanitarian activities. The U.S. remains the largest single donor of humanitarian assistance to Haiti.
On March 28, the U.S. Agency for International Development hosted a roundtable discussion on galvanizing additional support for Haiti with several philanthropic partners. Participants highlighted the criticality of donor collaboration in supporting the Haitian people.
Haitian residents and their advocates call upon humanitarian aid to support the work of local grassroots groups already helping civilians every day. Without urgent funding, humanitarian partners say the aid operations will collapse.
More ways to help
As with most disasters and emergencies, cash donations are recommended by disaster experts as they allow for on-the-ground agencies to direct funds to the most significant area of need, support local economic recovery and ensure material donations do not detract from disaster recovery needs.
Donors can help in the following ways:
- Prioritize investments in local organizations. Local humanitarian leaders and organizations play a vital role in providing immediate relief and setting the course for long-term equitable recovery in communities after a disaster or throughout a complex humanitarian crisis. However, these leaders and organizations are mostly under-resourced and underfunded. Grant to locally-led entities as much as possible.
- Provide unrestricted core funding for vetted humanitarian NGO partners that support the HRP.This is an efficient way to ensure the best use of resources in a coordinated manner. Funding the NGOs that have contributed to the HRP ensures that resources are directed to support the plan and use humanitarian partners’ best knowledge.
- Recognize there are places and ways that private philanthropy can help that other donors may not. Private funders can support nimble and innovative solutions that leverage or augment the larger humanitarian system response, either filling gaps or modeling change that, once tested and proven, can be taken to scale within the broader humanitarian response structure. Philanthropy can also provide sustainable funding to national and local organizations that support needed operational costs.
- Understand that recovery is possible in protracted and complex crisis settings. Even while focusing on immediate needs, remember that there are early and long-term recovery needs, too. We know that people who have been affected by shocks in complex humanitarian contexts can recover, improve their situation and build their resilience to withstand future shocks without waiting until the crisis is over, which may take years. Recovery is possible, and funding will be needed for recovery and resilience efforts alongside humanitarian funding. Recovery will take a long time, and funding will be needed now and throughout.
Resources
Complex Humanitarian Emergencies
CHEs involve an acute emergency layered over ongoing instability. Multiple scenarios can cause CHEs, like the civil wars in Syria and Yemen, the man-made political crisis in Venezuela, or the public health crisis in Congo.
Internally Displaced People
Internally displaced persons are those who have been forced to flee their homes, in particular as a result of armed conflict, generalized violence, violations of human rights or disasters, and who have not crossed an internationally recognized border.
Localization
It is commonly acknowledged that all disasters start and end locally. Though there is no single definition, localization is a process of recognizing, respecting and strengthening the leadership by local authorities and the capacity of local civil society in humanitarian action to better address the needs of affected populations and to prepare for future humanitarian responses.