After a year of intensive collaboration with the Ukrainian health system, the organization wishes to warn that the health system is severely threatened following numerous attacks on health infrastructure. Furthermore, the lack of medicines and medical supplies, as well as difficulties in travelling within the country, prevent the population from receiving care.
A HEALTH SYSTEM IN CRISIS
Hospitals and health centres are doing their best to care for patients despite frequent power cuts, heating failures, and medical equipment breakdowns. “The damage caused to hospitals and health centres condemns the Ukrainian population to substandard health care,” warns Pepe Fernández, President of Doctors of the World Spain.
Worse still, the people most affected by this situation are those who were already in a situation of vulnerability before the war, particularly those suffering from chronic illnesses, cancer patients, persons with disabilities, the elderly, and pregnant women.
Reaching health centres to deliver humanitarian aid is far from simple. Transporting and delivering donations of medicines and medical supplies is particularly complex due to damaged roads and infrastructure, as well as the lack of safe access routes.
MENTAL HEALTH: AN ALARMING SITUATION
The figures are appalling: over 7,000 deaths and 11,000 civilians injured, 17.7 million people in need of humanitarian aid, nearly 6 million internally displaced persons, and 8 million refugees. Yet, many war-related injuries in Ukraine remain invisible. While the Ukrainian population continues to experience traumatic events without any end to the conflict in sight, their mental health is deteriorating significantly.
“Mental health is one of the most pressing issues in Ukraine, particularly for those who have experienced two displacement situations,” states Bashar Kailani, General Coordinator for Doctors of the World. “In January, for example, the bombing of a residential building in Dnipro resulted in dozens of casualties. Many of those affected by this attack had previously been displaced from the Donetsk oblast. Those who survived witnessed the deaths of other internally displaced persons. And this, while they thought they were finally safe.”
Doctors of the World is striving to address this issue by integrating psychologists into the teams of its mobile units that provide health care to displaced persons and the rest of the population. In addition, Doctors of the World offers group psychological support sessions and mental health training to nurses, midwives, social workers, and other professionals, as well as mental health support through a helpline.
UNRESTRICTED ACCESS
Doctors of the World calls on all parties involved in the conflict to guarantee unrestricted access to humanitarian aid. All violence against civilians, humanitarian personnel, and civilian infrastructure must finally cease.
Despite growing humanitarian needs, particularly in eastern and southern Ukraine, access to territories under Russian control continues to be denied to NGOs, and it is nearly impossible for humanitarian workers to reach the communities most in need. Humanitarian organizations are calling on the international community to conduct urgent and targeted advocacy on the issue of humanitarian access with the highest authorities and to make it a priority in its own right.
DOCTORS OF THE WORLD’S ACTIONS
In 2022:
- 29,000 people received health care
- 17 mobile clinics were deployed in Ukraine to reach the most vulnerable people
- The NGO supported over 120 health facilities and more than 90 temporary reception centres
- 886,313 people benefited from donations of medical supplies and other essential items
Doctors of the World teams have been present in Ukraine since 2015. Before the Russian offensive, the organization primarily operated in the east of the country, providing comprehensive primary health care, including sexual and reproductive health services and mental health and psychosocial support in government-controlled areas and in the oblasts of Donetsk and Luhansk, which are not under government control.
Since the start of hostilities, Doctors of the World has focused its efforts on supporting the public health system and health infrastructure by providing, among other things, medicines, medical equipment, supplies, and maternity kits in several provinces of the region.
ABOUT DOCTORS OF THE WORLD CANADA
Doctors of the World’s mission is to ensure and defend access to health for excluded and vulnerable persons, both here and around the world.
Present in Canada and in 74 countries, Doctors of the World is an international movement of volunteers working at the national and international levels. Through innovative medical programs and evidence-based advocacy, Doctors of the World empowers excluded individuals and communities to demand respect for their right to health, while fighting for universal access to care.
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Information:
Mélissa Cabana
Director of Communications
Doctors of the World Canada
Cell: 514-799-8985
melissa.cabana@medecinsdumonde.ca