The World Well being Group warned Monday that the Ukrainian well being care system is dealing with “unprecedented challenges” because the nation marks the third yr of defending towards Russia’s invasion.
Ukrainians have suffered a decline in bodily and psychological well being with a necessity for psychological well being care, trauma care and rehabilitation, in response to the worldwide well being company.
Hundreds of individuals have been injured, and each youngsters and adults are experiencing severe medical situations and psychological trauma, research have proven.
“Being a health care provider in wartime means returning dwelling after every shift, wishing the struggle had by no means occurred and praying for its swift finish,” Olha Zavyalova, an emergency doctor and surgeon from the Dnipro area in southeastern Ukraine, stated in an announcement.
“Individuals are exhausted — each the sufferers and the well being care employees. But, as medical professionals, we wouldn’t have the luxurious of being drained. Our sufferers want us to maintain going and we should push by way of the fatigue to proceed delivering the care they deserve,” Zavyalova stated.
An October 2024 evaluation from the WHO European Area discovered that 68% of Ukrainians reported a decline in well being in comparison with earlier than the struggle. Psychological well being considerations had been probably the most prevalent well being challenge, reported by 46% of these surveyed, the WHO discovered.
Medics help a Ukrainian serviceman at a stabilization level in Dnipropetrovsk Area, Ukraine February 22, 2025.
Valentyn Ogirenko/Reuters
This was adopted by psychological well being problems — resembling nervousness and despair — reported by 41% of these surveyed, and neurological problems reported by 38%.
Entry to well being and medical care continues to be a battle, with one in 4 individuals reporting a lower in entry to medical providers for the reason that begin of the struggle in February 2022, in response to the WHO.
In front-line areas, together with probably the most affected areas, solely about 50% of residents have been capable of entry medical care in comparison with 57% within the capital, Kyiv, and 60% in the remainder of the nation, in response to the October 2024 report.
Internally displaced persons are among the many most affected in terms of lack of medical care. In keeping with the United Nations Refugee Company, 4 million Ukrainians had been internally displaced as of February 2025.
The WHO stated 13% of internally displaced individuals lack entry to major well being care amenities in comparison with 6% of these not displaced, and 9% do not have entry to a household physician in comparison with 4% of these not displaced.
The October 2024 WHO report additionally discovered the price of medicines and therapy to be a barrier to accessing care, with 35% suspending medical care as a result of monetary challenges.
Moreover, there’s a want for trauma care and rehabilitation, in response to the WHO. The company, citing the Ukrainian Ministry of Well being, stated that by mid-2024, 100,000 amputations had been carried out because of the struggle. In the meantime, there’s a extreme scarcity of trauma specialists, prosthetics and rehabilitation providers, the WHO stated.
The WHO additionally warned about assaults on the well being care system and employees. For the reason that begin of the struggle, the company stated it has documented at the very least 2,254 assaults, with 42 assaults to this point in 2025 alone, which resulted in 12 accidents and three deaths.
Amid the assaults was injury to the Okhmatdyt Kids’s Hospital in Kyiv — one of the well-respected youngsters’s hospitals within the nation — when 5 Ukrainian cities fell beneath assault in July 2024, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated on the time. At the least two individuals had been killed within the assault on the hospital, together with one feminine doctor, and at the very least seven youngsters had been injured, in response to officers.
In November 2022, a new child child was killed when a missile strike hit a maternity hospital within the city of Vilniansk in Zaporizhzhia Oblast, the native mayor advised ABC Information on the time.
The WHO stated it is targeted on rebuilding Ukraine’s well being care system, together with putting in major well being care clinics in affected areas and offering vital care together with immunizations and psychological well being care, in addition to treating HIV, tuberculosis and antimicrobial resistance.
“Well being is the muse of peace and restoration. Rebuilding well being methods means restoring hope, dignity and securing the long run,” the WHO wrote in its launch.
