PORT–AU–PRINCE, Haiti – UN agencies are reaching Haitians in the besieged capital and other areas amid ongoing gang violence that continues to ravage the Caribbean nation, UN deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq told journalists on Wednesday.
Providing an update of the situation, he said the World Food Programme (WFP) distributed close to 10,000 hot meals on Monday and Tuesday to about 5,000 people displaced in the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area.
The UN agency started to transition from hot meals distributions to cash-based transfers for the displaced.
“So far, more than 37,000 people received cash. In the coming weeks, WFP is planning to provide cash assistance to over 95,000 displaced people,” the deputy spokesperson said.
Efforts expanding in Port-au-Prince
WFP continued food distributions in Cité Soleil, and more than 65,000 people have received food since last Friday, he said, adding that the agency’s goal is to reach 95,000 people by the end of this week.
As part of its school meal programmes, WFP has reached 195,000 school children throughout Haiti.
Following needs assessments in Gressier, a neighbourhood in Port-au-Prince, after violent incidents there, WFP is planning to begin hot meal distributions in this community on Thursday.
Meanwhile, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) distributed water to two sites hosting displaced people and provided health services through a mobile clinic in one site in Port-au-Prince, according to the agency.
