Health Fact Sheet
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- Ukraine
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- USAID
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OVERVIEW
As of 2022 2022, USAID health programs are investing more than $40 million each year to strengthen Ukraine’s health systems; combat infectious diseases such as tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS; address vaccine-preventable diseases; and expand access to mental health, psycho-social, and rehabilitation services. In 2021, USAID also committed $10.1 million in additional funding to support COVID-19 response and vaccination efforts - part of more than $74 million in U.S. Government COVID-related support to Ukraine since the pandemic began.
In the context of Russia’s unprovoked invasion in February 2022, USAID has continued to partner with the Government of Ukraine (GOU) to improve essential health services and build the resilience of health systems and institutions to continue serving the Ukrainian people. USAID health activities have continued to operate inside Ukraine, pivoting assistance to ease strains on Ukraine’s health system and address the direct human costs of the war, interruptions to services, and the health needs of the large number of internally displaced persons (IDP) inside the country. During the war, USAID’s network of implementing partners have continued working on the ground to meet immediate needs and support long-term strengthening of Ukraine’s health system.
OBJECTIVES
USAID assistance helps Ukraine build a health system that is transparent, efficient, free from corruption, and responsive to the needs of the Ukrainian people. Programs aim to strengthen and rebuild the country’s capacity to respond to high burdens of HIV/AIDS, viral hepatitis C (HCV) co-infection, and multi-drug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB); improve Ukraine’s immunization programs; advance health reforms to ensure that more Ukrainians have access to high-quality and affordable health care; and expand access to mental health and rehabilitation services. These objectives remain central to supporting an efficient and effective response to the health impacts of the war.
OUR PROGRAMS
I. COMBATING INFECTIOUS DISEASES AND IMPROVING HEALTH SECURITY
HIV/AIDS: With funding from the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), USAID partners with the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, local government, healthcare facilities, and civil society organizations to eliminate HIV/AIDS as a public health threat. USAID technical assistance improves HIV service quality, ensures that more Ukrainians know their HIV status, links people living with HIV/AIDS to treatment and care, retains people on treatment, and reduces stigma and discrimination. Since the invasion, activities continue to provide support to facilities providing services to people living with HIV in PEPFAR-priority regions of Ukraine which remain in GOU control. Outreach efforts now include services to internally displaced populations and an additional a focus from new HIV case identification to sustaining access to antiretroviral treatment (ART) for people living with HIV through activities such as home delivery of antiretroviral medication (ARVs) and providing counseling and adherence support. Following Russia’s full-scale invasion, USAID supported the delivery of more than 18 million doses of PEPFAR-funded antiretrovirals in April 2022. The antiretrovirals are now being distributed around the country, including in liberated areas such as Chernihiv and in the frontline oblasts of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kharkiv, and Zaporizhzhia.
TUBERCULOSIS: USAID supports Ukraine’s TB control program to mitigate the TB epidemic in Ukraine through early detection, appropriate care, and prevention for people living with TB, drug-resistant tuberculosis (DR-TB) and TB/HIV. Amid Russia’s full-scale invasion, USAID has supported the continuity of treatment in 12 oblasts in areas that remain under Ukrainian control. USAID collaborates with the MOH Center for Public Health (CPH) to provide more effective TB services as Ukraine transitions to increased use of primary healthcare centers. TUSAID’s Support TB Control Efforts in Ukraine program continues supporting efforts to sustain TB services in focus oblasts and assisting central level authorities maintain continuity of TB diagnostics, treatment and support. With large numbers of Ukrainians relocating due to the fighting, additional assistance is being provided to help track and support TB patients to prevent interruption of treatment, through social, medical and nutritional patients’ support including food assistance. USAID continues to support transportation of essential TB medicines and diagnostics in most of the supported regions, with the expansion to health workers transportation where safety allows.
HEALTH SECURITY AND COVID-19: USAID provides technical assistance and support for Ukraine’s response to COVID-19, including support for active case-finding, clinical case management, risk communications, and oxygen supply for hospitals. USAID programs also support laboratory systems, and procure essential commodities, medical equipment and supplies. To support the continuation of COVID-19 vaccinations, USAID still provides support and technical assistance for national pandemic planning and readiness, vaccination coverage, communications and demand generation, and logistics shipments of vaccines (both into and within the country). Beyond COVID-19, USAID’s new Public Health System Resilience & Recovery (PHS R&R) activity, awarded in May 2022, is supporting Ukraine’s public health system and regional to improve preparedness, detection and response capacity to address public health threats.
IMMUNIZATION: Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, routine immunization coverage was improving in Ukraine due to increased access to primary health care. The pandemic led to new challenges in reaching full vaccination coverage, and Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine has made routine vaccinations far more difficult. In partnership with UNICEF, the World Health Organization and CDC, USAID continues supporting vaccination efforts by combating misinformation about vaccines, reducing vaccine-hesitancy, developing technical capacity of health providers, and supporting the MOH in building strong procurement and supply chain systems.
II. SOCIAL SERVICES
MENTAL HEALTH: USAID/Ukraine is working with the MOH, the Ministry of Veterans Affairs (MVA), and veterans’ organizations to broaden access to community-based, non-medicalized mental health services to veterans, members of their families, and IDPs. In addition, USAID’s new Public Health System Resilience and Recovery Activity includes assistance to increase access to and the sustainability of mental health services for conflict-affected populations at the community level.
PHYSICAL REHABILITATION: USAID collaborates with the WHO, the MOH, the Ministry of Social Policy and selected health care facilities to expand access to physical rehabilitation services, introduce international best practices for neurorehabilitation, promote a physical therapist profession, and increase information about available rehabilitation services and assistive technologies. USAID is supporting the GOU and its partners to introduce rehabilitation services at the primary healthcare level and expand the availability of assistive technologies for people with disabilities and persons injured from the current fighting.
III. HEALTH REFORM AND SYSTEM RECOVERY
USAID has supported Ukraine to undertake major healthcare system reforms since 2016 to eliminate corruption and informal payments, and make healthcare services more accountable to patients. USAID supported the establishment of the National Health Services of Ukraine in 2017, which today contracts more than 95 percent of all public health facilities to provide government-covered health services, covers more than 32 million Ukrainians (78% of the population), and has helped reduce the prevalence of informal payments for primary healthcare by 65 percent in just three years. USAID also supports Ukraine’s medical Central Procurement Agency, which has saved hundreds of millions of dollars in Ukrainian state funds through transparent, accountable procurement since 2019.
USAID’s ongoing health reform activities have helped Ukraine’s health sector to respond to significant new strains related to the war and ensure continuity of services. USAID’s Health Reform Support (HRS) activity helped the Ministry of Health rapidly adapt its financing systems to help facilities respond to emergency needs, protect information systems against cyber threats, and support data-driven national recovery planning. USAID’s SAFEMed program has helped to adapt supply chains and manage incoming humanitarian donations to keep medicines flowing to facilities, and avert drug shortages.