More than 115,600 children in Haiti are expected to suffer severe wasting from malnutrition this year, the United Nations children's agency UNICEF said on Thursday, as an escalation of armed violence worsens food insecurity and a cholera outbreak.
That number is more than 30 percent higher than the 87,500 children UNICEF registered as suffering from the condition last year. It warned of a severe funding gap that "could put the lives of more than 100,000 children at risk of immediate death."
Heavily armed gangs have taken control of large swathes of the Caribbean island nation, with much of the violence centered in the capital Port-au-Prince, where the U.N. estimates more than 600 people were killed in April alone.
UN agencies have repeatedly warned of chronic underfunding and “catastrophic” hunger in Haiti, saying lack of basic services lie at the root of the escalating violence.
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