24 April 2003
U.N. Appeals for $84 Million to Address Haitian Humanitarian Crisis
(Money would aid U.N., U.S. efforts to help Haiti's poorest people)
(400)
Washington -- The United Nations has issued an emergency appeal to the
international community for $84 million to support efforts by U.N.
development and humanitarian agencies and the United States to help
the poorest of Haiti's 8.3 million people.
In an April 22 statement, the U.N. said Haiti is faced with an
extremely serious humanitarian crisis that threatens to get worse. The
U.N. said 56 percent of Haiti's population suffers from malnutrition,
only 46 percent has access to clean drinking water, and 42 percent
live below the poverty line.
Money for the "Integrated Emergency Response Program" would provide
aid over the next 18 months to address Haiti's urgent needs for food,
improved water and sanitation, access to health care, and mitigation
of natural disasters. Haiti's most vulnerable populations -- including
families who have taken in children orphaned by HIV/AIDS -- will be
targeted for help, said the U.N.
In addition, the aid will help farmers resume production of their
crops, immunize the population against communicable diseases, and
rehabilitate the nation's roads.
Among its activities in Haiti, the United Nations is working with
Haitian authorities and civil society representatives to combat
Haiti's HIV/AIDS epidemic. Haiti has the highest rate of HIV infection
in the Americas.
For its part, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)
has funded a five-year, $100-million food assistance development
program in Haiti to increase the amount of food available for
impoverished families in six of that country's poorest provinces. The
program's activities focus on those people most vulnerable to
malnutrition -- such as pregnant women, nursing mothers, children
under six years old, poor farmers in food-insecure areas, primary
school children, orphans chronically without enough to eat, and the
elderly and sick in health-care institutions.
In addition, USAID provided $2.5 million in emergency food assistance
to Haiti during a 2002 drought that resulted in crop failure which
caused abnormally high food prices. During that period, health centers
registered increasing numbers of malnourished children.
USAID also provided in 2002 a $350,000 grant to Haiti, following a
flood disaster that struck the country that year. The money was used
to allocate 180 metric tons of food to 4,000 affected families, and to
repair key road segments made impassable by landslides and flooding.
(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S.
Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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