Hurricane Matthew’s Blow – 100,000 Children At Risk, Access to Food Worsens

Threat of acute malnutrition, increased morbidity and mortality – In October 2016, at least 100,000 children under the age of five at risk as access to food worsens in the areas worst hit by Hurricane Matthew.

An estimated 500,000 children live in the Grande Anse and Sud departments in southern Haiti, the areas worst hit by the full strength of the class 4 Hurricane Matthew. (Left) A bowl of beans culled from a devastated crop in Jérémie. (Right) An aerial view of southern Haiti.

Coastal towns were severely damaged as were many homes in remote mountainous regions and many are staying in temporary shelters. (Left) A meal is prepared outside a church sheltering people displaced by the hurricane in Jérémie. (Right) A woman returns to her destroyed home.

Increasing cases of diarrhoea and suspected cholera are concerning as their impact on malnourished children can be deadly. Even before the hurricane, 1 in 5 children suffered from chronic malnutrition. (Left) At a school in Les Cayes, a girl holds an empty pot. (Right) Children at a church in Jérémie.

“The massive destruction of crops, livestock and livelihoods are putting even more lives at risk” says Marc Vincent, UNICEF Representative in Haiti. (Left) A meal is prepared outside a church in Jérémie while (right) a girl prepared rice indoors.