Haiti Food Security & Nutrition Fact Sheet (2016)

Food insecurity is a long-standing challenge in Haiti. Even before the 2010 earthquake, Haiti suffered from one of the heaviest burdens of hunger and malnutrition in the Western Hemisphere: 40 percent of households were undernourished and 30 percent of children suffered from chronic malnutrition. The earthquake not only aggravated existing difficulties, it lessened the government’s ability to manage the situation. In the six years since the earthquake, Haiti has made progress but still ranks “alarming” in the 2015 Global Hunger Index. For example, the 2012 Demographic and Health Survey showed that, between 2005-2006 and 2012, stunted children under five years of age decreased from 23.8 to 21.9 percent; wasting decreased from 9.1 to 5.1 percent; and underweight children decreased from 22.2 to 11.4 percent. Still, roughly 50 percent of Haiti’s population is undernourished, which has been exacerbated by the longstanding drought and El Niño, leaving 1.5 million Haitians at risk of food insecurity. Haiti cannot achieve economic growth and national stability if food security is not addressed.