The non-governmental organization (NGO) Save the Children International has today expressed its grave concern for the wellbeing of children and their families in Haiti, amid escalating violence and worsening political and economic crises. The NGO is urgently calling on the international community to ramp up its support to the Caribbean nation, to meet the growing needs of vulnerable children and families.
More than 4.9 million people — including 2.2 million children — need humanitarian assistance, many of them suffering from hunger and malnutrition. Widespread poverty, a rising cost of living, extreme levels of violence, low agricultural production, expensive food imports and growing political instability have worsened existing food insecurity in Haiti.
Save the Children warns the situation in the country is increasingly precarious, and violence has reached extreme levels. Access to water and food is very difficult in Haiti, with children being the most affected, suffering from hunger and at risk of losing their lives.
Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere and one of the countries with the greatest inequality in the distribution of wealth. According to a recent report by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), there is a dire need for humanitarian aid throughout the country, with over 30 per cent of the population requiring emergency relief. The violence in the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince has aggravated an already precarious situation for children and their families, leaving 500,000 children without regular access to schools, limited access to water and alarming malnutrition rates.
Save the Children is an international non-governmental organization that campaigns for the rights and protection of children and delivers urgent humanitarian assistance for children worldwide. The NGO was founded in 1919 by the teacher and social reformer Eglantyne Jebb in Britain. Today, Save the Children International consists of 30 country organizations and is active in around 120 countries.
Further information
Full text: Haiti: More than 2.2 million children in need as violence surges across the country, press release by Save the Children International, published September 20, 2022
https://www.savethechildren.net/news/haiti-more-22-million-children-need-violence-surges-across-country
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