WHO and Ukrainian health authorities - united in sustaining health services and medical supply lines on World Health Day and beyond 

Dr Kluge is on a two-day visit to Ukraine to meet with representatives of the Ministry of Health, Ukrainian health professionals, WHO staff working on the emergency response as well as those directly impacted by the war. 

Mr Liashko and Dr Kluge visited different health facilities - a children’s hospital and an emergency hospital among them – thanking health workers for their lifesaving efforts and meeting with internally displaced Ukrainians in need of essential health services. 

“Every day I ascertain that our health workers are an example of sacrifice and heroism. They continue saving lives while under attack. Doctors shield pregnant women and newborns with their bodies, and emergency care physicians are the first to go to the hotspots in the country, but none of them have left their jobs. This is an example for the whole Europe and the world,” said Viktor Liashko, the Minister of Health of Ukraine. 

“I am here in Ukraine to stand in solidarity with the health care workers in the country. I thank them for their dedication and professionalism – as they continue to deliver care in the face of unimaginable human suffering and in scenes of total devastation - that no nurse, doctor, midwife, ambulance driver, pharmacist, therapist or social worker should ever have to experience,” said Dr Kluge. 

WHO has operated in Ukraine since 1994, working closely with the Ministry of Health to identify gaps and needs in the country’s health system - and swiftly respond. 

“Our preparation for a potential catastrophic health emergency, including the prepositioning of supplies, actually started years ago, when hostilities occurred in eastern Ukraine. Since the current war broke out, we’ve massively scaled up our operations. Our focus is not only on ensuring that the wounded are cared for but also on maintaining essential health services. That means that all those with chronic conditions have access to medicines and medical services, and that hospitals are stocked to remain operational,” Dr Kluge added. In the past six weeks, WHO has reached at least a half-million people and delivered approximately 180 metric tonnes of medical supplies to health-care facilities nationwide, including in Cherkasy, Dnipro, Kharkiv, Kherson, Kyiv, Odessa, Sumy, Zaporizhzhya and Zhytomyr. 

The shipments include trauma and emergency surgery kits, emergency medical supplies and medicines to support surgical and primary health care needs. WHO also monitors and verifies attacks on health, and has, as of April 6, verified 91 attacks on health care that have caused 73 deaths and 46 injuries. The number of internally displaced people, forcibly displaced by hostilities, now exceeds 7 million. According to IOM, 32% of households of internally displaced people report having a chronically ill family member, 20% a disabled one, and 56% an elderly family member. Also, in more than 60% of the households that are forcibly displaced, there is one child or more, aged 5-18. 

- For further information: eupress@who.int Tetiana Dolhova, Communication Officer, WHO Ukraine: dolhovat@who.int