In the Global Hunger Index 2019 (GHI 2019), the German NGO Welthungerhilfe, attempts to capture the progress and setbacks in the fight against hunger by combining four indicators : undernourishment , wasting children, stunted children and infant mortality.

In the GIH 2019 index, Haiti is ranked 111th out of 117 countries and has the 7th highest GHI scores this year, among all the countries present.

The index reveals that Haiti suffers from an alarming level of hunger with a score of 34.7, down 8 points compared to the year 2000 (42.7). This score is due to its rate of undernourishment 49.3% against 57.1% in 2000, the 3rd highest value in the 2019 report, which emphasizes that about half of the Haitian population is not able to regularly meet your basic calorie needs.

According to GIH 2019, Haiti’s score in 2019 is in the upper part of the "serious" category (scores between 20.0 and 34.9) and is the worst performance in the entire American continent. The countries that do worse than Haiti are all African and suffer from an alarming level of hunger: Central African Republic (117th out of 117 countries with a score of 53.6) behind Yemen (116th, 45.9), Chad ( 115th, 44.2), Madagascar (114th, 41.5) and Zambia (113th, 38.1).

17 countries on the American continent are classified in the "low hunger level" category, including Cuba, Jamaica and the Dominican Republic, among others (score 9.2 and 39)

The high poverty rate, low agricultural productivity, high level of environmental degradation and agriculture dependent on the rainy season, are the main factors, according to the 2019 index, which contribute to food insecurity in Haiti.

In its conclusions, the GIH 2019 recommends "The Haitian government and the international community must increase resources and interventions to focus on the persistent gaps linked to children's food and nutrition, while tackling the problems of wider societies that currently limit the food and nutrition security of the population as a whole."

TB/ HaitiLibre