How Haiti’s Humanitarian Crisis Affects Children

Following the series of natural disasters in Haiti, many Haitians, both young and old, have found themselves deep in the depths of poverty. Although this crisis affects everyone, it is particularly difficult for children, whose futures are taken from them because of a lack of means to escape or endure these horrible conditions. Read on for details about how Haiti’s humanitarian crisis affects children and how you can help.

Limited or No Access to Necessities

Many children in Haiti, particularly in South West Haiti, lack access to the essentials, such as clean drinking water, food that provides nutritional value, shelter, etc. Because they lack access to these necessities, these children are severely malnourished and are unable to fight many of the diseases that are prevalent in this area of the world.

Donating supplies, or money to buy these supplies, is a great way to support the children in Haiti. Some of the items organizations such as Haiti Children’s Project can purchase with your donation include:

  • Food
  • Clean drinking water/ water treatment kits
  • Family hygiene kits
  • Vaccines
  • Etc

The humanitarian crisis in Haiti is creating a large disruption, however, in donations making their way to families. Because there is so much gang violence and crime occurring in Haiti, it is often unsafe for humanitarian aid to make its way to the families that need it the most. 

According to UNICEF, in the first three months of 2021, “the number of admissions of severely acute malnourished children in health facilities across Haiti has increased by 26 percent compared to last year”. Many children are being admitted to health facilities because resources are unable to reach them. 

Disease and Illness are Widespread

Diseases and illnesses such as COVID-19, waterborne illnesses, cholera, malaria, etc. pose large threats to the children in Haiti. As mentioned before, because children are already severely malnourished and not healthy because they don’t have access to clean water and nutritious food, they are much more susceptible to falling victim to one or multiple of these illnesses.

Organizations such as Haiti Children’s Project help to provide resources so children in Haiti have access to vaccines, medicines, and other hygiene and medical products to not only treat existing disease and illness, but to try to help prevent more disease and illness from developing in these areas in the future.

If you want to help aid Haiti’s humanitarian crisis, reach out to Haiti Children’s Project today! Your donation will help to replenish needed supplies for children in Haiti. They can use your donation to directly help children in Haiti to have a better life and a brighter future.