UN pleads for urgent aid as Haiti children face malnutrition crisis

UNITED NATIONS, CMC – The United Nations Friday warned that the nutrition situation for children in Haiti continues to deteriorate and is urging the global community to provide funding for the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) country to deal with the situation.

“The nutrition sector under the Haiti Humanitarian Response Plan requires US$41 million but is less than 20 per cent funded, with just US$7.5 million received. We need more money, and we need it very, very soon,” said Stéphane Dujarric, the spokesman for the UN Secretary-General at the daily press briefing.

He told reporters that colleagues at UNICEF, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP) say more than a quarter of a million children between the ages of six to 59 months old are expected to suffer from acute malnutrition between June of this year and May of next year.