For nearly three years, since the assassination of Haiti’s president, Jovenel Moïse, in 2021, the country has been run by lawless gangs, whose haphazard rule has exacerbated the poverty left by an earthquake in 2010. Recently, a surge in violence among these gangs has thrown crucial sectors into chaos, particularly impacting the health care system, educational system and child nutritional status.
The current food crisis is grave, with at least 115,000 children in Haiti expected to suffer from life-threatening malnutrition this year—a 30% increase over 2022. Approximately 40% of them reside in and around the capital, Port-au-Prince, which is significantly affected by gang violence obstructing critical food supplies. Most faith-based nonprofits serving in Haiti have had to cease or decrease operations due to the danger the gangs pose, as shown by the kidnapping of multiple aid workers and missionaries.