WHO in Ukraine and the Ministry of Health of Ukraine launched the exhibition "Ukrainian Health and Care Workers: always at your side" for the Universal Health Coverage Day

“Healthcare workers are the daily frontline defenders of our lives and health, and it is important to ensure that they have decent working conditions, receive decent salaries, have access to mental health and psychosocial support services, to learning and development opportunities as well as socially protected. To mark the Universal Health Coverage Day as well as the International Year of Health and Care Workers 2021, WHO in Ukraine hosts the exhibition “Ukrainian Health and Care Workers: always at your side”. It aims to draw attention to the health workers’ achievements, their needs, challenges and to demonstrate the way the COVID-19 pandemic has influenced their daily work,” said Dr Jarno Habicht, WHO Representative and Head of the WHO Country Office in Ukraine.

“I am sure that 2022 will be a year of care for health professionals. We want our doctors and nurses to feel supported by the government and confident in their future. And we have already envisaged in next year’s budget the market salary for our healthcare workers. Our doctors are always at our side, they daily save the lives of thousands of Ukrainian people, the government’s task is to ensure the most comfortable working conditions and make the work of doctors prestigious,” explained Viktor Liashko, Minister of Health of Ukraine.

The exhibition has been held as part of the International Year of Health and Care Workers 2021, designated by WHO in appreciation and gratitude for the health-care workers’ unwavering dedication in combatting the pandemic and beyond. It aims also to emphasize the importance of universal health coverage, and to pay tribute to the efforts of health professionals in Ukraine.

A series of 12 posters, featuring the images and stories of Ukrainian health and care workers, as part of the exhibition “Ukrainian Health and Care Workers: always at your side”, are exhibited in the premises of the Ministry of Health and the National Health Service of Ukraine in Kyiv, as well as in universities and libraries in Lviv, Odesa, Dnipro, Kharkiv and Uzhhorod, and through the digital channels of Permanent Mission of Ukraine to the UN Office and other International Organizations in Geneva and other Ukrainian diplomatic missions.

Universal Health Coverage Day, marked worldwide on 12 December, provides us with an opportunity to remember the importance of ensuring that everyone, everywhere has access to quality essential health services without suffering financial hardship. Following the principle of “leaving no one behind” of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, health professionals work every day to ensure that all of us receive timely and quality health services, along with access to information and effective medicines. The exhibition calls on us all to be attentive to patients’ needs, and ensure everyone is given good-quality and affordable medical care.

The exhibition has been organized by the WHO in Ukraine, with financial support from the WHO and the European Union (EU) under the WHO and EU initiative on health system development in Ukraine, as well as from the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg and the European Union under the EU-Luxembourg-WHO Universal Health Coverage Partnership, and from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

Background:

Universal Health Coverage (UHC) is a concept, meaning that all individuals and communities worldwide receive the health services they need without suffering financial hardship. Achieving UHC is one of the targets the UN member-states set when adopting in 2015 the Sustainable Development Goals and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.