Hunger in Haiti

Haiti is a prime example of how human needs in one area of the world are interdependent with social conditions elsewhere in the world. Haiti, for most of its history has been overwhelmed with economic

Illness and disease along with poverty still plague Haiti today. The effort to try and recover from the most recent earthquake tragedy has Haitians concerned. The conditions that they have endured in the past just to survive are worse than the conditions brought on by the earthquake. Some Haitian natives feel the Government is moving a bit slow in cleaning up and getting

The Republic of Haiti has a unique and vibrant culture. It was once hailed as the "Pearl of the Antilles" for being the wealthiest colony in the world. This small Latin American island tells a story of slaves enduring resistance to the some of the most dominant forces abroad. In 1804, Haiti became the first free black republic and the second post-colonial country in the Americas. However, the days of being the wealthiest colony have since passed. Haiti is now considered to be the most impoverished country in the western hemisphere. The proud history of this country is overshadowed by alarming rates of poverty, violence, and inequality. This island nation’s government has been plagued with numerous military staged coups and misfortunes. I

In order to understand Haiti we must first put ourselves in their shoes. At one stage or another, every man, woman, or child will be faced with at least one issue that is now happening in Haiti. The issues involving Haiti has been a popular topic for the past two years. Since January twelfth two-thousand and ten. There are many factors which influenced the development of Haiti. Many people have abandoned Haiti over the past years. They have also given up hope for Haiti. Haiti is heralded by economic issues both political and social, foreign issues, military issues (minustah), presidential issues, and the recent earthquake. I plan to explain each of these factors in detail and give

The food security in Haiti is another issue that must be described to understand it better. Via USAID the number of people living in extreme poverty is about 2.5 million Haitians, most of their income being forced to be spent on subsistence farming (Agriculture and Food Security). The need for more accessible and better food is very evident with statistics like 53.4% of the population is undernourished, 21.9% of the under 5 population has experienced stunting because of the lack of nutritional intake. The problem is not getting any better in 2000 the population that was undernourished was 55.2% to today where it is at 53.4% (Global Hunger Index). The evidence for food security being a problem is overwhelming and where most of our attention will be spent. The solution for this issue is heavily involved but our organization will address this issue through many different avenues. The center called “Training for Food” will provide a service that rewards Haitians for coming to workshops about how to farm effectively with

The current state of Haiti is one of despair from the economic oppression, devastating natural

A majority of Haiti’s economy relies on foreign aid, with over half of its annual budget coming from outside sources. In 2010 a 7.0 magnitude earthquake hit Haiti which inflicted $7.8 billion in damage which caused the GDP to contract by 5.4%. Foreign aid skyrocketed and about $13.5 billion in donations and pledges flooded in with 75% of them coming from donor nations and the other 25% coming from private charities or organizations. Even 5 years after the earthquake, the situation hasn’t improved. Haitians are still dependent on foreign donations to live. The heavy dependence on donations makes up for Haiti’s low participation in the global economy, which is also negative. Besides the foreign aid, Haiti exports very few products -- with annual exports that are about a third of Jamaica's exports. The United States, a country that has trade

However, in Haiti’s case, it is so entrenched in debt that the government has problems far beyond water and sanitation. In 2008, Haiti was $1.85 billion in debt to other countries, and that figure is only growing (Varma et al., 2008, p. 68). Additionally, countries that were helping reconstruct the physical water system and infrastructure, such as the United States, have been backing out because they know it is unlikely Haiti will repay them. Failed international involvement is a crucial side-effect of a government in disarray. Other nations do not trust Haiti and do not want to enter the scene of turmoil. Consequently, such a shortage of financial resources is harming multiple facets of Haitian lives. For example, the country does not even know how much water it requires for self-sufficiency because the government has not allocated funds to research and development (Stoa, 2015, p. 5). Moreover, water transportation is currently ineffective. The natural geographic location of individuals relative to the water supply puts the metropolitan areas at an advantage. Wealthier individuals have cisterns and can pay a premium for water whereas rural residing Haitians often travel on foot carrying their water in buckets (Varma et al., 2008, p. 70). However, developing more efficient water distribution procedures for the population at large is costly and requires funding the government cannot

The national population is continuing to increase at a 1.17% growth rate, which appears small, but consider that most developed countries have negative population growth rates. This is caused by two main factors; continuous births in a state that cannot support them, and the deportation of Haitians from the Dominican Republic, who’s population is decreasing. More than that, Haiti still lies in ruins following the 2010 earthquake, which, as previously mentioned, leaves a large percentage of the population without shelter, food, or work. Even worse is that Haiti’s economic status is continually deteriorating, caused by the previous two factors; population growth and geographic destruction. For that matter it is not helping the global economy at all, as a developed country would. Data shows that Haiti is truly the most under-developed country in the Western Hemisphere. This is due to the fact that it “is the most densely populated country in the Western Hemisphere” (Aronson 1), the fact that it is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere and has the least income per person, the fact that it does not have nearly enough food, shelter, clothing, water, or work for all of its people. With that, Haiti shows no signs of improvement in the near future, as it has nothing to build up

Living on an island with two third world countries; the Dominican Republic and Haiti, I’ve seen firsthand the major differences between both of them. The Dominican Republic has evolved from a Spanish colony, while Haiti was originally French. Throughout the years, Haiti has become known for suffering from poverty, misery, and distress. Pauperism has become a huge issue for the Haitians and prosperity of the country as a whole due to a lack of health, education, and social services.

One of the most prominent issues that face Haiti today is hunger. According to the statistics given in the novel On The Day Everybody Ate, “three-quarters of Haitians live on less than $2 per day… and 56% live on less than $1 per day” (Trost). This is not enough for a person to substantially sustain himself/herself. The majority goes hungry. In addition, over a third of the population has no easy access to clean drinking water. Many Haitians do not know where their next meal is going to come from. They are forced to eat day by day, eating what they can.

It also has the second highest population. The bottom forty percent have control over only six percent of the available income, while the top two percent control twenty six percent. (Food Security Portal, 2012) According to the Global Hunger Index, Haiti has a GHI score of 36.9 which is ranked as alarming. It is fourth highest ranked country in the world just behind Central African Republic, Chad, and Zambia. This is score is down 14.7 points from 1992.. In 1992 the score was extremely alarming at 51.6. In 2000 it was down to only being alarming at 42.8. Eight years later 2008 it was still only at an alarming rate but the score went up to 43.4. It may seem like Haiti is doing better today. However it is doing worse compared to the rest of the world. In previous years Haiti was not one of the top five hungriest countries in the world. (Global Hunger Index,

Haiti has a failed society partly due the ecosystem while Denmark society lives a successful and sustainably economy. In Haiti, acute poverty forces the population to rely on wood and charcoal for fuel and income, leading to ever more deforestation. Sixty-six percent of Haitians depend on agriculture and small-scale farming, but most cannot produce enough food on the eroded hillsides to even feed their families. When tropical storms regularly hit Haiti, rainfalls ravage crops, bring flooding and wash more topsoil into the sea. The 7.0 Mw earthquake in January 2010 added new dimensions of suffering and urgency. And Haiti’s government, which has been chronically weak for

Unlike most of Latin America, Haiti’s main colonizing power was France, not Spain or Portugal, after France was given one-third of Hispaniola. To this day you can see the lasting effects of colonialism in Haiti especially in comparison to the Dominican Republic which shares the same island. While Haiti, formerly Saint Domingue under French control, was at one time the world’s wealthiest sugar and coffee producer, the tides have changed in terms of Haiti’s economy and it is now one of the worst off in terms of measurement of GDP per capita and income inequality. This change largely took place after the Haitian revolution, which transformed Haiti’s economy to a rural subsistence economy, instead of the capital-intensive plantation economy it had been. As other states, including neighboring DR, developed competitive commodity industries, Haiti never jumped on that export-led growth path and there was overall less investment making its way to Haiti in comparison to other states in the region. Also, Haiti was not a part of the “Golden Age” period of Latin America from 1950-1973. With a brief understanding of Haiti’s background, a more solid understanding of their economic performance, challenges, assets and current conditions can be developed further.

Poverty, corruption, and poor access to education are the most serious disadvantages that Haiti faces. Two-thirds of the country depends on agriculture, consisting of mainly small-scale subsistence farming. This sector is high vulnerable to damage from natural disasters and the country’s widespread deforestation (which have caused periodic flooding). Additionally, Haiti suffers from high inflation, lack of investment,