Hunger surges in Haiti as gang violence, high food prices and a supercharged El Niño persist

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico -- Nearly six million people in Haiti are experiencing severe hunger, with almost two million facing emergency conditions, according to a new report released Wednesday.The worsening crisis in the Caribbean country of nearly 12 million people is blamed on a surge in gang violence and displacement, combined with high food and fuel prices and an extreme El Niño weather phenomenon that is threatening food security.The U.N.'s Food and Agriculture Organization noted Wednesday that the number of people experiencing high levels of acute food insecurity in Haiti — 5.94 million — is “one of the highest levels in the world today.” It noted that more than half of Haiti's population struggles to eat every day.About one in two Haitians are unable to consistently access sufficient food, and the overall number of people with severe hunger is expected to surge to 6.35 million people — more than half of Haiti’s population — by mid-2027, according to the analysis published Wednesday by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, a multi-partner U.N. initiative that analyzes food insecurity and malnutrition worldwide.The number of Haitians facing severe hunger increased by...