IOM Records 22% Increase In People Displaced In Haiti

Posted by African Examiner Latest Headlines, World News Thursday, October 3rd, 2024

(AFRICAN EXAMINER)- A breakdown in law and order and a wider humanitarian emergency across Haiti have displaced more than 700,000 people – one in two of them children, the UN migration office, IOM has said.

New data from the International Organisation for Migration, on Wednesday indicates a 22 per cent spike in the number of people uprooted from their homes since June.

IOM said that gang violence had forced more than 110,000 people to flee their homes in the last seven months, particularly in Gressier, which lies west of the capital.

Grégoire Goodstein, IOM’s chief in Haiti, said that the sharp rise in displacement underscored the urgent need for a sustained humanitarian response from the international community.

The UN agency noted that although more than 65,000 people had returned to the Cité Soleil neighbourhood near the capital, which is known for deadly clashes between rival gangs, these returnees “are often displaced again, following new attacks”.

As humanitarian needs grow, IOM has continued to provide critical assistance to displaced people and host communities, although access for aid teams remains difficult and dangerous in places.

IOM reaffirmed it would keep working alongside the Government of Haiti and international partners to provide lifesaving assistance and find long-term solutions for the displaced.

It is crucial that efforts to restore stability and security across the country continue, the agency said, alongside humanitarian aid to alleviate the immediate suffering.

In a related development, Global immunisation coverage has remained below pre-pandemic levels and the number of children who have not had a single vaccine has increased to 14.5 million.

That’s the worrying finding of an expert group of health advisers meeting at the UN World Health Organisation (WHO), which said that more than half of these so-called “zero-dose” children live in 31 mostly-developing countries.

Many of these nations are fragile and conflict-affected, according to the Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunisation (SAGE), which blamed a dearth of political will and falling investment in immunisation programmes for the lack of success in reaching vulnerable youngsters.

The expert group also issued new vaccine advice to low- and middle-income countries where there’s a high burden of respiratory syncytial virus among children.

It’s a common virus that affects the nose, throat and lungs and a leading cause of hospitalisation of youngsters and the elderly.

“Clearly there is a major benefit to be expected and therefore we did give the recommendation that all countries should introduce either maternal vaccination or the monoclonal antibody to protect small children,” Dr Hanna Nohynek, Chair of SAGE, said.

She added that respiratory syncytial virus has surged since COVID-19 and now accounts for approximately one in three of those hospitalised with lower respiratory infections globally.

“Nearly all deaths from the virus happen in low and middle-income countries,” she confirmed. (NAN)