A doctor provides care to people displaced by violence at a UNICEF-supported mobile clinic in Boucan Carré, Haiti. Credit: UNICEF/ Herold Joseph
By Oritro Karim
UNITED NATIONS, May 29 2025 – The humanitarian situation in Haiti has deteriorated significantly in the recent weeks as rates of violence, hunger, and displacement soar amid a severe lack of funding. As armed gangs continue to seize more territory in the capital, Port-Au-Prince, as well as in areas in the Artibonite and Centre Department, humanitarian organizations have found themselves unable to keep up with the growing scale of needs.
Haiti is considered to be one of the poorest countries within the western hemisphere and relies heavily on foreign aid to fund the majority of basic services for its citizens. According to figures from ACAPS, a nonprofit organization that provides daily analysis on current humanitarian crises, the 2024 Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan (HNRP) for Haiti had called for USD 673.8 million, 65 percent of which was contributed by the United States. Due to the Trump administration’s reduction in USAID for over 90 programs, the amount of funding Haiti receives this year could look very different.
Heightened insecurity and worsened living conditions in Haiti have resulted in a 34 percent increase in needs as this year’s HNRP calls for USD 908 million. In the first two months of 2025, the U.S. provided nearly half of all foreign aid that was committed to Haiti, totaling at nearly USD 23.1 million. ACAPS estimates project that the total HNRP will be severely underfunded this year, with the food, healthcare and protection sectors being among the most affected.
Additionally, the reduction in funding from the U.S. could have significant implications for the efficacy of the United Nations (UN) in crisis-affected nations like Haiti. Not only will the delivery of humanitarian aid be constricted, but a variety of programs that monitor impending disasters, such as climate shocks, economic downturns, disease outbreaks, and conflicts, could be terminated.
“The pullback of U.S. funding will limit the United States’ ability to shape the UN system, to maintain its leadership of UN agencies, and to put the UN tools, especially in peacemaking situations, to use. More broadly, these funding cuts will have negative repercussions for the perception of the United States around the globe,” said Allison Lombardo, a senior associate with Human Rights Initiative at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).
Estimates from the UN indicate that armed groups in Haiti have taken control of over 90 percent of Port-Au-Prince, spurring concern from humanitarian groups that the gangs could completely override efforts from law enforcement and the state. “It’s an unsustainable catastrophe. We could lose Port-au-Prince at any time,” said Claude Joseph, the former prime minister of Haiti.
The United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH) states that over 1,600 civilians were killed as a direct result of gang violence in the first quarter of 2025 alone. Additionally, according to figures from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), over 60,000 people have been internally displaced since February.
William O’Neill, the UN’s independent expert on the human rights situation in Haiti, states that the rampant insecurity in the capital can be attributed to a consistent influx of firearms from the US to Haiti. According to Amnesty International, over 600,000 guns are currently in circulation, with more coming in every day.
“The gangs have access to an increasing number of high calibre weapons, and a seemingly endless supply of ammunition and some gangs have weapons that pierce armour. This is very dangerous because the Haitian National police and the multinational security support mission led by Kenya are really relying on their armoured vehicles to provide them protection,” said O’Neill.
According to figures from the World Food Programme (WFP), over 5.7 million people, or roughly half of Haiti’s population, faces acute food insecurity. 227,000 children from the ages of six months to five years, as well as numerous pregnant and breastfeeding mothers, are at risk of acute malnutrition, with over 125,000 severe cases having been recorded already.
Haiti has also experienced another surge in sexual violence in the past month. On May 3, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported the death of a six year-old girl after experiencing a rape in a displacement site in Port-Au-Prince. According to the UN, over 333 women and girls were subjected to gender-based and sexual violence in the first quarter of 2025, with 96 percent of these cases being rape. These victims have struggled to recover due to a lack of judicial and psychosocial support.
Additionally, the lack of water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) services has led to a rise in cholera cases. The UN Spokesperson for the Secretary-General, Stéphane Dujarric has said that as of May 28, there have been over 2,100 cases of cholera reported, with 28 associated deaths. Dujarric added that rates of infection are highest in densely populated areas and displacement sites.
“After the families informed us of these cases, the threat remains because no decontamination session has taken place in the camp. We lack the materials to carry out the cleaning. Where we live, we are exposed to all kinds of diseases,” said Jhonny Élysée, president of the Bois-Verna camp committee.
Due to aid deliveries being hampered by threats of gang violence, basic services have been stretched to their limits for the majority of civilians in Haiti. According to Doctors Without Borders (MSF), over 60 percent of healthcare facilities in Port-Au-Prince are nonfunctional or operate with significant shortages in personnel, funding, and medical supplies.
“The number of seriously injured patients has risen steadily over the past four weeks. Nearly 40 percent of them are women and children,” said Dr. Seybou Diarra, coordinator of MSF’s Tabarre Hospital.
“We are now creating hospital rooms in the meeting rooms. The medical teams are exhausted, and the intensification of violence around the structure complicates the conduct of our activities, as we are located next to areas that are regularly under attack, with a high risk of stray bullets…If the situation doesn’t calm down, I fear that many of the wounded will die for lack of available treatment.”
IPS UN Bureau Report
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