The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Haiti (OCHA) presented the revised Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP), taking into account the consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic in Haiti. No less than $472 million are needed today to meet the most urgent needs in the country.

This amount is divided into two parts.

To cope with the Corona Virus pandemic, $144 million is needed to enable partners to support the efforts of the Government of Haiti.

Regarding non-covid humanitarian financial needs, they amount to $328 million, an increase of $75 million compared to the revised HRP which was launched last February, an increase due to the consequences of the epidemic in particular on the most vulnerable populations. Among other things, recent assessments indicate that:

• The pandemic should lead to a deterioration in the food security situation, pushing part of the 3 million people already in phase 3 of the IPC analysis towards phase 4 (emergency);

• The number of malnourished children under 5 is expected to increase by 25%, while the rate of severe acute malnutrition at the national level was already above the emergency threshold of 2% in December 2019;

• The schooling of more than 4 million children was interrupted, which affected the most vulnerable and canceled the progress made in terms of access to education and quality of education;

• The pandemic has severely exacerbated protection risks and vulnerabilities.

Bruno Lemarquis, the Humanitarian Coordinator in Haiti, launched an appeal for international solidarity explaining "Behind these figures there are women, men, children, who live below the poverty lines and extreme poverty. With the pandemic, the situation has worsened for them. In the quest for the Sustainable Development Goals, they must not be left by the wayside. Today, we are therefore calling on a mobilization of partners and a surge of solidarity to support the most vulnerable."

For his part Wilfrid Trenard, the Director General of the Ministry of Planning and External Cooperation, stressed the importance of mobilizing partners in support of the HRP in order to support both the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic and the response to the essential and vital needs of the population, stressing that the HRP constitutes "a real advocacy tool which should serve today to mobilize resources from development and humanitarian partners for a better tomorrow for our fellow citizens and fellow citizens."

HL/ HaitiLibre