ReliefWeb Publishes Major Thematic Report on Humanitarian Crisis in Artibonite, Centre, and Ouest Departments

ReliefWeb published a major thematic report on May 7, 2026 documenting key humanitarian developments and security impacts in Haiti's Artibonite, Centre, and Ouest departments covering April 2025 through April 2026 — a full year of escalating crisis in the three regions most severely affected by gang expansion beyond Port-au-Prince. The report synthesizes data from OCHA, IOM, UNHCR, and other UN agencies documenting the cascading effects of gang territorial expansion: over 13,000 people displaced by Gran Grif's March–April 2026 offensive in the Artibonite; the destruction of healthcare facilities including the Mirebalais University Hospital serving 185,000 patients; the collapse of the Artibonite rice harvest under gang extortion of farmers; and the exponential growth of IDP populations in precarious sites without adequate sanitation, food access, or protection. The report documents that as of early 2026, over 1.46 million Haitians were displaced — the largest internal displacement crisis in the Western Hemisphere — with 600,000 in IPC Phase 5 (Catastrophe) food insecurity conditions. The Centre Department, which had been more stable than the Artibonite, saw significant gang penetration in 2024–2025 through the Route du Centre corridor, cutting off humanitarian access to major population centers. The Ouest Department data covers the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area, where UN BINUH estimates approximately 90% of the capital remains under gang control despite PM Fils-Aimé's contested claim of improvement to 75%. The report serves as a key reference document for the 2026 Humanitarian Response Plan, which as of early May 2026 had secured only approximately 20% ($172M of $880M needed) of its required funding, with USAID cuts deepening the gap.