WFP scaling up food assistance in Haiti in response to rapidly escalating needs

More than 50,000 Haitians have been displaced in the past two weeks alone due to insecurity related to armed groups, while across the country, 5.4 million people are facing acute hunger – one of the highest per capita proportions of food insecurity worldwide. 

“WFP stands steadfast with the people of Haiti in this challenging moment,” said Wanja Kaaria, Haiti Country Director for WFP, speaking from Port au Prince. “We have been delivering record amounts of food assistance to Haitians in Port-au-Prince and across the country these past few months and will do even more in the coming weeks.”

WFP teams have stayed and delivered throughout the crisis with staff working from WFP’s central Port-au-Prince office and four additional field offices around the country.

DISPLACEMENT DRIVING HUNGER: WFP PROVIDING HOT MEALS AND CASH ASSISTANCE

The number of Internally Displaced People (IDPs) in Haiti has now risen to well over 700,000, mostly in the capital Port-au-Prince and the Artibonite region. 

In response to the latest surge of IDPs, WFP and partners have scaled-up support with hot meals and cash assistance. The agency is currently providing meals to more than 50,000 IDPs per day - the largest number of people served per day since the beginning of the crisis. 

In November, WFP and partners served a record number of 834,000 hot meals at 48 sites housing displaced people, including those forced to flee in the latest uptick of fighting. 

So far this year, WFP has provided almost three million hot meals which are largely prepared using locally grown and procured ingredients. 

FOOD INSECURITY NEEDS CONTINUE TO GROW

The most recent IPC food security data shows one-in-two Haitians do not have enough to eat, two million are facing emergency levels of hunger, and as many as 6,000 internally displaced people are experiencing catastrophic levels of hunger (IPC phase 5).   

Haiti has seen a steady rise in hunger in recent years with the prevalence of acute food insecurity rising from 35 percent in 2019 to 48 percent in 2024 - the highest level since the 2010 earthquake. 

WFP OPERATIONS SCALING UP TO MEET NEEDS

WFP plans to expand food assistance operations in response to growing needs, targeting 1.85 million individuals with emergency relief while also supporting efforts to strengthen national resilient systems.   WFP requires $94 million to fund its operations for the next six months.

Last week the agency chartered two maritime vessels to transport 21 trucks loaded with food, medicines and health supplies from Port-au-Prince to the southern region. This will allow WFP to preposition food stocks for its operations and those of local partners in the southern region; medicines and health commodities that have been out of stock for months at health centres will also be replenished.

So far this year, WFP has assisted a total of 1.7 million people across Haiti through emergency assistance, school meals, social protection, and resilience activities. Families with pregnant and breastfeeding women, and children under five, receive additional foods to prevent malnutrition.

More than 470,000 school children across Haiti receive a daily meal thanks to WFP and the Government, most prepared entirely with locally grow ingredients.

WFP this month regained access to Croix-des-Bouquets in the north of the capital, which was previously off-limits to humanitarian workers due to violence by armed groups.  Thanks to this breakthrough WFP has now delivered rice, beans, and oil to 50,000 people there, as part of a large-scale distribution in multiple neighbourhoods reaching nearly 150,000 people.

Supporting the scale-up efforts is the WFP-managed United Nations Humanitarian Air Service (UNHAS), which provides passenger and light cargo services to nine destinations within Haiti, enabling a vital lifeline to the wider humanitarian community. 

Note to Editors:

Video News Release available via this link. 

Photos available via this link.

More information via WFP’s Haiti emergency page.

IPC report available via this link.

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The United Nations World Food Programme is the world’s largest humanitarian organization saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build a pathway to peace, stability and prosperity for people recovering from conflict, disasters and the impact of climate change.

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