The cancellation of most of the US funds. In January it means that many services for the most vulnerable people have been cut or suspended.
Multiple political, security and socio -economic crises have led 5.7 million people suffering from a lack of food and have forced 1.3 million people to flee their homes.
With a dramatic reduction in financing, Haiti faces a crucial “turning point”.
UN news He spoke with the country director of Ocha, Modibo Traore, about the current situation.
UN news: What is the current state of humanitarian financing in Haiti?
Modibo Traore: Haiti humanitarian financing is going through a critical phase, marked by a growing gap between the needs and resources available. As of July 1, only about 8 percent of the required $ 908 million had mobilized.
This partial coverage only allows a fraction of the 3.6 million people to be reached.
Modibo Traore, Country Director of Ocha in Haiti.
The most affected sectors are food security, access to drinking water, primary health, education and protection.
This contraction in international support is part of a global context of multiple competing crises: Ukraine, Gaza, Sudan, but also reflects a loss of political interest in the Haitian issue.
UN news: What conditions in Haiti have led to such significant financing needs?
Modibo Traore: The growing humanitarian needs observed in Haiti are the result of an accumulation of structural and cyclical factors. In the socioeconomic front, multidimensional poverty affects a large part of the population.
Haiti's exhibition to natural dangers is an aggravating factor.
The country has experienced several important hurricanes that reached the southern region less than a week after an earthquake that severely affected the area, not to mention repeated droughts that have had a great impact on agriculture and cattle agriculture.
The center of the city of Port-Au Prince remains extremely dangerous due to gang activity.
Since 2019, a new dimension has emerged: chronic insecurity caused by the proliferation of armed groups, particularly in the capital, the portable prince and now in the departments of the center and artibonite.
In 2024, the multidimensional crisis that has been shaking Haiti for years has become catastrophic.
The level of violence and insecurity remains high, with devastating consequences for the population, including the massive displacement of people who were already in vulnerable situations.
UN News: How has the increasing control of armed groups affected the confidence of donors?
Modibo Traore: The increase in armed groups in Haiti and their growing control of strategic locations, particularly the main roads and ports of entry into the capital, is an important obstacle to the safe and efficient delivery of humanitarian aid.
This dynamic has an impact on the perception of the risk of international donors, who now evaluate Haiti as a high threat environment for intervention. Access to beneficiaries has become irregular in many areas.
The deterioration of the security situation represents a great challenge to mobilize and maintain financial commitments.
Donors have expressed concern about operational risks, particularly about obtaining supply chains, preventing exploitation and guaranteeing responsibility.
The operational cost of the aid has also increased.
UN news: What is the impact of the new approach adopted by the US administration?
Modibo Traore: On January 20, 2025, President Donald Trump signed the Executive Order 14169, which imposed an immediate suspension of all new foreign funds by the Federal Agencies of the United States, including the humanitarian programs administered by USAID and multilateral partners.
In the case of Haiti, the effects were felt through the sudden stop of approximately 80 percent of the programs financed by the United States. The personnel of the Ong Society were fired, the payments were suspended and the supply chains were interrupted.
US food aid is prepared for delivery after flooding in Haiti in 2022.
Beyond the structural effects, this suspension created a deep uncertainty in the Haitian humanitarian system. This situation not only weakened the continuity of the essential services, but also affected the confidence between the beneficiary communities and the humanitarian actors.
UN news: To what extent is the current situation not precedents?
Modibo Traore: The year 2025 marks a turning point in humanitarian aid in Haiti. This crisis is not the result of a unique or isolated event, but rather a series of deteriorated situations in the context of international attention gradually decreasing.
The interruption of American programs has acted as a catalyst for the crisis. USAID technical partners, many of whom managed community health programs in vulnerable neighborhoods, have stopped operating, depriving hundreds of thousands of vital services.
Health centers financed by the United States have closed, leaving pregnant women and children without help.
The current crisis demonstrates the growing isolation of the country.
Although the above crises had caused rapid international solidarity, the humanitarian response to the situation in 2025 has been slow and partial.
UN news: What difficult decisions have they had to make regarding the reduction of aid?
Modibo Traore: The interruption of financing has forced humanitarian organizations to make ethically complex compensations that are often painful.
In the protection area, for example, safe spaces for women and girls have been drastically reduced.
Haiti's long -term development is at risk as financing decreases.
Cash transfer programs have also been suspended, widely used in urban areas since 2021. These programs allowed vulnerable homes to maintain a minimum level of food security. Its suspension has led to a resurgence of coping mechanisms such as child labor, less food and children that are taken from school.
Resilience construction activities have also been affected. The programs that combine food security, urban agriculture and access to water, often co -financed by the USAID and UN funds, have frozen.
This compromises not only the immediate response, but also the development of medium -term solutions.
UN news: How are Haitians affected?
Modibo Traore: Children are among the most affected. UNICEF and its partners have treated more than 4,600 children suffering from severe acute malnutrition, which represents only 3.6 percent of the 129,000 children who are expected to need treatment this year.
The proportion of institutional maternal deaths has also increased from 250 to 350 per 100,000 living births between February 2022 and April 2025.
A rape survivor rests on a site for internally displaced people in Port -au -Prince.
In terms of security, the effects are equally worrisome. Gender -based sexual violence (GBV) has increased in neighborhoods controlled by armed groups.
In summary, the withdrawal of the US funds has led to a multidimensional regression in the rights of women and girls in Haiti, with consequences that probably last several years.
UN news: How have people reacted in Haiti?
Modibo Traore: The beneficiaries expressed a sense of despair for the sudden suspension of services.
In the working class neighborhoods of the Prince Port, as well as in the remote rural areas, the cessation of food distribution, community medical care and cash transfers were experienced as a violation of the moral contract between communities and humanitarian institutions.
Humanitarian partners communicate transparently about the reduction of support, so communities are, to some extent, aware of financial limitations.
