One year after Hurricane Matthew of Category 4, which devastated the great South of Haiti, "Hundreds of thousands of children have seen their lives disrupted," said Marc Vincent, UNICEF Representative in Haiti, one of the organizations that continue to support them.

"The contribution of the Government of Canada and Canadians in supporting UNICEF efforts has made it possible to rapidly provide essential assistance to affected populations to provide safe drinking water, essential health services, food, and to protect the most vulnerable people, especially women and children.

In collaboration with the Government and its partners, UNICEF has carried out interventions over the past twelve months that have benefited a great number of people:

• More than 550,000 people have access to safe drinking water;

• 120 schools damaged by the hurricane have been repaired, facilitating the return to school for more than 30,000 students; 139 schools received more than 10,000 school furniture items and 26,000 children received psychosocial support;

• More than 28,000 children have benefited from psychosocial care, support, nutrition, health care and hygiene education. More than 24,000 people have received information on violence, child abuse and gender-based violence;

• More than 160,000 children were tested for malnutrition in the departments of the South and Grand'Anse as part of an ongoing screening program. The results show the need: 7,443 children suffer from acute malnutrition, 2,343 from severe acute malnutrition and 5,100 from moderate acute malnutrition.

IH/ S/ iciHaiti