Reduced access to basic health, nutrition and water and sanitation services as a result of escalating violence, coupled with soaring food prices, inflation and food insecurity in Cité Soleil, leave one in five children suffering from acute malnutrition, leaving one in 20 children living in Cité Soleil - a violence-ravaged commune in Port-au-Prince - at risk of dying.
"We cannot sit idly by and watch children suffer from malnutrition and its complications,” said Bruno Maes, UNICEF Haiti Representative. ”Thousands of children are at risk of dying and most health clinics where they live are closed, preventing them from receiving adequate health and nutrition care. Violence must stop in Cité Soleil so that malnourished children can receive the medical assistance they need to survive and grow."
Since 8 July, a new upsurge of violence has erupted as rival gangs wage fierce battles in Cité Soleil, a municipality of a quarter million inhabitants. According to the UN, between 8 and 17 July 2022, over 471 people were killed, injured or unaccounted for. Around 3,000 people have also fled their homes, including hundreds of unaccompanied children, while at least 140 houses have been destroyed or burnt down. This new spate of violence has forced hundreds to be displaced from their homes. Only a portion of the population has left, however. Most of Cité Soleil’s population remains trapped and lives under siege as the conflict rages in the streets. Children and families are also having to contend with a lack of access to food and water. Access to basic services such as health centres has already been drastically reduced in Cité Soleil where only four per cent of the population resort to public health centres and 64 per cent served by NGOs such as Doctors Without Borders.
UNICEF still urgently needs US$64.6 million to reach over half a million children with humanitarian support in Haiti.
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