Haiti faces ‘hunger emergency’ amid escalating gang violence and surging inflation

Haitians are facing overlapping crises of gang violence, lack of food due to poor weather and inflation, which has risen to 49.3%. Photograph: Johnson Sabin/EPA

Haitians are increasingly desperate for humanitarian aid as gang violence engulfing the country has left nearly half the population regularly going hungry, a World Food Programme (WFP) report has found.

“These are the worst conditions on record,” said Jean-Martin Bauer, WFP’s Haiti director. “Food insecurity in Haiti has been going downhill and Haiti is sliding into a hunger emergency.”