The cancellation of most American funds in January means that many services to the most vulnerable persons have been deleted or suspended.
Several political, security and socioeconomic crises have led 5.7 million people suffering from a lack of food and forced 1.3 million people to flee their homes.
With a spectacular reduction in funding, Haiti faces a crucial “turning point”.
PK Press Club spoke to the director of the country of Ocha, Modibo Traore, of the current situation.
PK Press Club: What is the current state of humanitarian funding in Haiti?
Modibo Traore: Humanitarian funding in Haiti involves a critical phase, marked by an increasing difference between the needs and the resources available. On July 1, only about 8% of the needed $ 908 million had been mobilized.
This partial coverage allows only a fraction of the 3.6 million targeted people.
Modibo Traore, Country Director of Ocha in Haiti.
The most affected sectors are food security, access to drinking water, primary health care, 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 for the Haitian issue.
PK Press Club: What conditions in Haiti have led to such important financing needs?
Modibo Traore: The growing humanitarian needs observed in Haiti are the result of an accumulation of structural and cyclical factors. On the socioeconomic front, multidimensional poverty affects a large part of the population.
Haiti exposure to natural risks is an aggravating factor.
The country has experienced several major hurricanes that hit the South region less than a week after an earthquake that seriously affected the region, not to mention repeated droughts that have had a major impact on agriculture and breeding.
The city center of Port-au-Prince remains extremely dangerous due to the activity of the gangs.
Since 2019, a new dimension has appeared: chronic insecurity caused by the proliferation of armed groups, in particular in the capital, Port-au-Prince and now in the departments of the Center and the 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 a massive displacement of people who were already in vulnerable situations.
PK Press Club: How did the growing control of armed groups affect donors’ confidence?
Modibo Traore: The rise of armed groups in Haiti and their growing control of strategic locations, in particular the main roads and the entrance ports in the capital, is a major obstacle to the safe and effective contribution of humanitarian aid.
This dynamic has an impact on the perception of the risks of international donors, which 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 major challenge to mobilize and maintain financial commitments.
Donors have expressed concerns about operational risks, in particular with regard to the securing of supply chains, operating prevention and responsibility.
The operational cost of aid has also increased.
PK Press Club: 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 decree 14169, which imposed an immediate suspension of all new foreign funding by American federal agencies, including humanitarian programs managed by USAID and multilateral partners.
In the case of Haiti, the effects were felt by the sudden judgment of around 80% of the programs financed by the United States. The NGO partners were dismissed, the payments were suspended and the supply chains were disrupted.
Food aid in the United States is prepared for delivery following floods in Haiti in 2022.
Beyond the structural effects, this suspension has created a deep uncertainty in the Haitian humanitarian system. This situation not only weakened the continuity of essential services, but also affected confidence between beneficiary communities and humanitarian actors.
UN news: to what extent is the current situation unprecedented?
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 deterioration situations in the context of progressive international attention.
The interruption of American programs acted as a catalyst for the crisis. USAID technical partners, many of whom have managed community health programs in vulnerable neighborhoods, have ceased to operate, depriving hundreds of thousands of vital service.
Health centers funded by the United States has closed, leaving pregnant women and children without help.
The current crisis demonstrates the growing isolation of the country.
Although the previous crises caused rapid international solidarity, the humanitarian response to the situation in 2025 was slow and partial.
PK Press Club: What difficult decisions must have been made regarding the help of help?
Modibo Traore: The interruption of funding forced humanitarian organizations to make ethically complex and often painful compromises.
In the field of protection, for example, safe spaces for women and girls have been considerably reduced.
The long -term development of Haiti is at risk as funding decreases.
The cash transfer programs, widely used in urban areas since 2021, have also been suspended. These programs have enabled vulnerable households to maintain a minimum level of food security. Their suspension has led to a resurgence of adaptation mechanisms such as child labor, less food and children leaving school.
Resilience strengthening activities have also been affected. Programs combining food security, urban agriculture and water access, often co -financed by the USAID and UN funds, have been frozen.
This compromises not only the immediate response, but also the development of medium -term solutions.
PK Press Club: How are Haitians affected?
Modibo Traore: Children are among the hardest. UNICEF and its partners have treated more than 4,600 children with severe acute malnutrition, representing only 3.6% of the 129,000 children who should 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 survivor of rape is based on a site for people displaced internally in Port-au-Prince.
In terms of security, the effects are also disturbing. Gender violence on gender (GBV) has increased in neighborhoods controlled by armed groups.
In short, the withdrawal of American financing led to a multidimensional regression of the rights of women and girls in Haiti, with consequences that should last several years.
PK Press Club: How did people in Haiti react?
Modibo Traore: The beneficiaries expressed a feeling of despair in the face of the sudden suspension of services.
In the neighborhoods of the working class of Port-au-Prince as well as in remote rural areas, the cessation of food distribution, community health care and cash transfers was experienced as a termination of the moral contract between communities and humanitarian institutions.
Humanitarian partners transparently communicate on the reduction of support, so that communities are, to a certain extent, aware of the financial constraints.
