SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Haiti’s government pledged Friday a quick response to growing hunger in the troubled Caribbean country as a new report warned that more than half the population is experiencing crisis levels of hunger or worse.

At least 5.7 million Haitians are at the crisis level, with 1.9 million of those facing emergency levels of hunger, according to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, the leading international authority on hunger crises.

Last year, some 5.41 million Haitians were at the crisis level, with numbers expected to only increase next year, the report warned.

“The growing influence of armed groups, combined with structural problems and unfavorable climatic conditions, continues to affect the food security of the Haitian population,” it stated.

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