Racked by violence, Haiti faces 'humanitarian catastrophe,' aid group says
Haiti is facing a "humanitarian catastrophe" as it reels from a surge in violence that is forcing people from their homes and pushing overstretched health facilities to the brink, Doctors Without Borders said Thursday.
The crisis-torn Caribbean nation has seen new unrest in recent weeks as gangs battle police for territory, leading United Nations agencies and humanitarian groups to warn last month of a "wave of extreme brutality" sweeping the country.
The fighting has left civilians trapped in the crossfire, overwhelmed hospitals and raised fears of a new cholera epidemic in a nation devastated by the disease in the 2010s, said Doctors Without Borders, which is also known by its French initialism, RSF.
Last week, the medical aid group's teams treated 90 victims of violence — double the usual number — at its emergency center in the Turgeau neighborhood of the capital, Port-au-Prince, it said.
Haiti, the poorest nation in the Americas, was plunged into fresh unrest last year when gangs launched coordinated attacks in Port-au-Prince to force then-Prime Minister Ariel Henry to resign.
The interim government and a Kenya-led U.N. force have struggled to restore order. Armed groups control 85% of the capital, according to UNICEF.
With an estimated 1 million people forced from their homes by violence, there are fears of disease outbreaks in makeshift camps for the displaced.
"The scale of this crisis far exceeds what MSF can respond to alone," the group's mission chief in Haiti, Christophe Garnier, said in a statement.
With the rainy season approaching, sanitation conditions are worsening, MSF said.
"Without urgent action, the situation will turn into a humanitarian catastrophe," said Garnier.
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