HAVANA, September 12 — A weekly situation update covering Latin America and the Caribbean, issued as of September 11, paints a picture of four countries under simultaneous strain, and in Cuba the pressure runs straight through the water supply. Health partners on the ground report significant rotavirus and norovirus outbreaks, outbreaks that are landing on a health system already stretched thin and eroding its capacity to respond.
An estimated 3.2 million people struggle to access safe water, and more households are now relying on untreated sources as the country’s energy crisis, fuel shortages and chronic infrastructure failures degrade water, sanitation and hygiene services. UNICEF warns that failing WASH services raise the risk of waterborne disease, particularly diarrhoeal illness among children.
A recent United States Embassy health alert flagged rising diarrhoeal disease tied to deteriorating water and power systems, and the latest Pan American Health Organization and World Health Organization report identified water- and food-borne diseases as priority public health risks for the island.
Ecuador: schools under attack
In Ecuador, the Norwegian Refugee Council reported on September 8 that attacks on education in the provinces where it works reached 27 in the first half of 2026, nearly half of them in Guayas and El Oro. The attacks include threats, shootings, extortion and killings, and they affected schools serving nearly 19,000 pupils. NRC ranks Ecuador third in the region for violence-driven internal displacement, behind Haiti and Colombia.
UNHCR and Ecuador’s Ombudsperson’s Office report that organized crime violence, including death threats, extortion, recruitment and killings, has displaced more than 300,000 people over the past three years, a figure rights groups say may be higher. The Ministry of the Interior recorded 4,882 homicides from January to July, down from 5,295 a year earlier.
Haiti: hunger and displacement
Haiti’s numbers are the starkest in the update. Per the Food Security Cluster, 5.83 million people, 52 per cent of the population analysed, faced acute food insecurity in the second quarter of 2026, including 1.9 million in Phase 4. The national food basket cost 4 per cent more between April and May, and red beans remained scarce in several departments.
Armed violence has spread from Port-au-Prince into the Artibonite and Centre, disrupting markets, livelihoods and essential services. Internal displacement reached 1.47 million in May, and the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area passed 300,000 displaced people for the first time after clashes in Cité Soleil.
Food security partners reached 1.9 million of the 3.5 million people targeted from January to June, leaving 1.8 million without adequate assistance.
Colombia: territory and confinement
In Colombia, fighting between non-state armed groups over territory has displaced or confined more than 1,300 people across the north. In Montecristo, Bolívar, over 880 people in five communities are confined, and armed groups have blocked food and fuel from entering. In Ituango, Antioquia, clashes displaced 339 people, who have settled in Ituango and Valdivia, while 37 families have remained confined in Tarazá since August 27.
A further 301 people in Medio San Juan, Chocó, are at risk of confinement, according to the Ombudsperson’s Office. In Nariño, an expanded military operation across three municipalities closed a public road and put roughly 1,500 people at risk of confinement, raising concerns over mobility restrictions and humanitarian access.
What to watch next: whether Cuba’s water and power failures keep feeding the outbreaks, whether Ecuador’s schools reopen under protection, and whether Haiti’s food partners close the gap on the 1.8 million people they did not reach.
