UNICEF warns of food shortages in overcrowded camps in Haiti. Children face a severe lack of food, medical support and education, the head of the UN children's agency said.

Heavily armed gangs have expanded their territory and now control communities numbering some two million people, according to UN estimates, mostly women and children living amid extrajudicial executions and frequent sexual violence.

This has fueled a humanitarian crisis that the agency says has displaced more than 165,000 people inside Haiti, while pushing many to attempt a dangerous escape from the country by boat.

"Children are malnourished, they need help and the world needs to take care," said UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell after visiting the New Deliverance Church of God camp, now home to 120 families from hard hit neighborhoods including 239 children adding "Children desperately need health care like vaccinations and schooling [...] Adults need to stop fighting and take care of children."

During a meeting on Haiti Russell said UNICEF had documented an unprecedented 30% increase in the number of Haitian children suffering from severe wasting since last year, making them much more vulnerable to dying from cholera, reappeared in Haiti.

The UN agency estimates that more than 100,000 children are at risk of starvation in the immediate future...

HL/ HaitiLibre