Health needs increasing rapidly due to war – Head of WHO Country Office in Ukraine

Head of the WHO Country Office in Ukraine Jarno Habicht told the Interfax-Ukraine News Agency about operation of the healthcare system in wartime and what disease outbreaks Ukrainians should be prepared for.

Text - Anna Levchenko

What is the overall situation with the health care system financing during the war? Are there any peculiarities about this as the country is in the state of war? Is there any international experience like that?

First of all, what we see since the Russian Federation invasion in February 2022, and now more than 600 days, is that the war has caused enormous damage to the economy, as well as to the human capital, both people and also health and care workers. And it has also influenced how much resources we have for the healthcare and how healthcare is financed.

Ukraine's health system has been resilient but it also has been supported by many of the international partners to have resources available, including resources which are available through the budget support to the National Health Service of Ukraine. The budget for 2024 is increasing, but also health needs are increasing rapidly.

This brings me to the second aspect: what we need to look at is how the public funding is used? It is very much commendable that we will have increase of the public budget as we analyze 2024 health budget and what the government has put forward. However, we need to pay more attention also how the funding is used, and to ensure that the services are reaching those who are mostly in need, and we need to pay attention more to essential services and vulnerable.

And why I bring up this aspect how money is used? It is that we see that more and more Ukrainians have difficulty to access the health care. Latest surveys