Key Developments

On January 24, USAID announced $56.5 million in additional humanitarian assistance for the people of Haiti in response to increasing humanitarian needs and the country's ongoing cholera epidemic.

Haiti's cholera epidemic persists, with the Government of Haiti Ministry of Public Health and Population confirming more than 1,900 cases from October 2 to January 22.

More than 155,000 people remained displaced due to violence in Port-au-Prince as of late November, marking a nearly 80 percent increase since August.

Background

Haiti’s endemic poverty and civil unrest—combined with recurring shocks from natural disasters, including droughts, earthquakes, floods, and hurricanes—have resulted in food insecurity and other humanitarian needs throughout the country.  Since the January 2010 earthquake and October 2010 cholera outbreak, USAID has focused both on providing immediate response to affected populations and on supporting disaster risk reduction (DRR) programs that promote local and national self-sufficiency in disaster preparedness, response, and management. Since 2010, USAID has provided approximately $186 million to support stand-alone DRR programs throughout Latin America and the Caribbean, including nearly $32.2 million in funding to support DRR efforts in Haiti. In addition to stand-alone DRR programs, USAID contributed nearly $133 million to support programs integrating preparedness and mitigation activities into early recovery and transition programs in response to the January 2010 earthquake and subsequent cholera outbreak in Haiti.

Since 2011, USAID has supported the International Organization for Migration to pre-position emergency relief supplies in the event of disasters, as well as to develop Government of Haiti personnel capacity to manage facilities and deploy supplies when necessary. Pre-positioning relief commodities—including plastic sheeting, hygiene kits, and water containers—ensured that relief supplies were available for distribution to affected populations immediately following Hurricane Matthew in October 2016, and Hurricane Irma in September 2017.

In recent years, USAID has deployed Disaster Assistance Response Teams to Haiti following Hurricane Matthew and Hurricane Irma to conduct disaster assessments and coordinate response activities with theGovernment of Haiti and humanitarian organizations.