The World Food Program (WFP) has distributed more than 74,000 hot meals to more than 15,000 displaced people in the besieged capital Port-au-Prince, Stéphane Dujarric, spokesperson for the UN Secretary General, told journalists at UN headquarters on Thursday, providing an update on the gang-ridden Caribbean nation.
In addition, about 2,400 children received mental health and psychosocial support from child protection experts, he said.
At the same time, humanitarian organizations provided information sessions for more than 4,000 people who had found shelter in displacement sites, on crucial issues such as gender-based violence, protection and sexual abuse.
Nearly 1.6 million people in Haiti face acute food insecurity, according to UN agencies.
The UN spokesperson also reported that civilians at IDP sites in Port-au-Prince have received approximately 13 million liters of water from UN agencies, partners and Haiti’s Civil Protection Department since early March.
In the Artibonite region, Mr. Dujarric said WFP has provided cash assistance to more than 13,000 people as part of its emergency response activities, and another 6,000 people in this region have received food.
Following the recent tornado in the municipality of Bassin Bleu, which damaged more than 300 homes, WFP will also provide food to nearly 3,800 residents, he said.
Violence and blocked borders hinder access to aid in Gaza
In Gaza, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said Thursday that rising violence and blocked borders continued to limit access to aid in the enclave where hundreds of thousands of people are in need.
Humanitarians are experiencing “restrictions on movement” into border areas causing delays to planned missions to gather resources at the Kerem Shalom crossing, the UN spokesman said.
“We need Israeli authorities to quickly facilitate access to the border crossing so that aid workers can safely reach the crossing to pick up supplies,” he said. “We also need safe and unhindered passage to distribute that aid at scale to people in need wherever they need it in Gaza.”
‘Catastrophic levels of hunger’
The UN and its humanitarian partners are doing everything they can to help civilians in Gaza, he said, adding WFP calls for opening the blocked borders in Gaza as this will impact their ability to reach people in need.
“Restricted access to the southern parts of Gaza risks causing the same catastrophic levels of hunger as in the north, and in central and southern Gaza hunger levels are rapidly worsening,” Mr. Dujarric said.
He said WFP reported that some commercial supplies have reached the enclave, but high costs have left many citizens unable to afford the goods.
‘Israel must stop its campaign against UNRWA’
The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees, UNRWAwhich serves more than 5.9 million Palestinians in the region, said conditions are dire, with more than 32,000 people fleeing escalating fighting in Rafah in the past two days alone.
In a guest essay published on Thursday in The New York TimesUNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini referred to unproven accusations Israel made against the UN agency earlier this year and attempts to limit its work in war-torn Gaza.
“As I write this, our agency has verified that at least 192 UNRWA workers have been killed in Gaza,” he said in the essay. “More than 170 UNRWA buildings have been damaged or destroyed. UNRWA-run schools have been demolished; approximately 450 displaced persons have been killed while sheltering in UNRWA schools and other structures.”
He also said that since October 7, following Hamas-led attacks on Israel that killed 1,200 and took 250 hostage and sparked the ongoing conflict, Israeli security forces have “detained UNRWA personnel in Gaza, claiming that they were tortured and ill-treated. ” in the Strip and in Israel.
“Israeli officials not only threaten the work of our staff and mission, they also delegitimize UNRWA,” he wrote. “Israel must end its campaign against UNRWA.”
First ever International Potato Day
It’s the world’s first ever International Potato Dayand the theme is Harvesting diversity, nurturing hopewith a focus on the contribution of the age-old vegetable to the lives of producers and consumers, as well as the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The General Assembly has designated May 30 to pay tribute to the potato, an 8,000-year-old crop native to the Andes Mountains in South America that is now a staple food consumed by about two-thirds of the world’s population.
The potato is climate-friendly and resistant to drought, cold and arid soil and has great adaptability. He contributes to the food security, nutrition, livelihoods and employment of people in rural and urban areas around the world.
Most important crop around the world
There are 159 countries that grow potatoes and there are 5,000 varieties worldwide. Nearly 50 percent of currently produced crops are used as staple foods or vegetables for the household.
Potatoes are an important crop in various agricultural systems worldwide, ranging from small farmers hand-producing various heirloom varieties in the Andes to large commercial, mechanized farms on several continents.
Building on the International Year of the Potato, marked in 2008, today’s commemoration also recognizes the role of small-scale family farmers, a significant proportion of whom are women, in protecting the broad spectrum of the crop’s diversity, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
By 2030, total potato production is expected to increase by 112 percent from current harvests to 750 million tons, more than half of which is expected to be produced in Asia, Africa and Latin America.
As communities around the world celebrate this day, both the cultural and culinary dimensions of the crop’s cultivation and consumption are celebrated, from pierogis to dum aloo.
