Siri Battula - Global Efforts Senior Editor
The article, “WHO’s response to the Ukraine crisis,” details the actions of the World Health Organization (WHO) in helping to maintain people’s wellbeing and health upon Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. This report outlined WHO’s four health objectives. 1) Providing and strengthening emergency and critical medical care access. With WHO’s 26 Emergency Medical Teams, nearly 2 million people had basic care needs covered, along with thousands of consultations, interventions, and evacuations. 2) Preventing and handling infectious diseases. WHO’s approach included providing cold chain equipment (refrigerators, vaccine carriers, etc.), over forty thousand vaccines, and vaccine education for COVID-19, diphtheria, measles and polio. 3) Establishing and strengthening the medical decision making process with emergency health information. WHO successfully made a total of 38 weekly situation reports and developed a real time map that included locations for medical care, personnel, and hospital capacities. 4) Coordinating health sector humanitarian interventions. To support Ukraine, WHO collaborated with 192 international and local medical partners. Similar steps were taken by the organization in neighboring countries to support refugees.
With areas of active conflict and overwhelmed systems no longer being able to provide healthcare, intervention and support were key in providing medical attention in Ukraine during the conflict. What made WHO’s response effective was that it reached beyond just Ukraine by providing support to neighboring countries and helping refugees. However, this is not to say that WHO completely perfected health support in Ukraine. Despite the thousands of deaths as a result of the conflict, WHO succeeded in providing as many resources to as many people as they could in order to ensure they met their four objectives. This article highlighted the importance of guaranteeing healthcare access, despite the large burden military conflict can put on a country's people and resources.
References
WHO's response to the Ukraine crisis. (2023). World Health Organization. Retrieved April 4, 2023, from https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/WHO-EURO-2023-5897-45662-68308
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