The war in Ukraine has terrible consequences for the youngest citizens. 7.3 million children are among the most vulnerable groups affected by the full-scale Russian invasion. 24.2% of Ukraine’s population is on the verge of poverty due to the full-scale invasion, and this number is growing. More than 1,500 hospitals have been partially or destroyed, creating a critical situation with access to medical services, especially in the frontline areas. 3.5 thousand educational institutions have been damaged to varying degrees. Every seventh school in Ukraine has been damaged by Russian strikes.
On June 1, the International Children’s Day, the Alliance for Public Health, ICF presented a report “Stolen childhood: the devastating impact of war on Ukrainian children”, which outlines the main areas of work and challenges that children face daily. Virusoff thanks the Alliance for Public Health for its efforts and calls on all those who care to increase resources and direct them to help children so that they can restore their childhood and receive the necessary support.
The Alliance for Public Health works in different directions to support children affected by the war. One of the main areas is the evacuation and safety of children from war-affected regions, starting from the first days of the conflict. Support for educational, extracurricular, and group activities for 523 children from Kyiv, Poltava, Kharkiv, Odesa, Cherkasy, and Sloviansk also plays an important role. The Alliance assists 16 shelters in 10 regions of Ukraine, including Zaporizhzhia, Mykolaiv, Dnipro, Donetsk, Odesa, Kyiv, Vinnytsia, Poltava, Cherkasy, Lviv and Kharkiv regions, including shelters for children and adolescents.
The Alliance’s mobile clinics provide basic humanitarian and medical assistance to children and families in the liberated territories, including the Kherson and Kharkiv regions, and in the frontline areas where medical, educational, and social infrastructure is not functioning. Comprehensive support for families includes addressing the medical, psychological, educational, and humanitarian needs of internally displaced persons through 200 small humanitarian projects, which have provided various types of assistance to more than 5,000 children. The Alliance provides online medical, social, and psychological support through Help24, HelpNow, and other platforms for families with children and adolescents who have become refugees from the war.
Humanitarian aid includes support for medical and social institutions working with children. A significant portion of the humanitarian aid provided was intended for children, including food, baby food, pediatric medical supplies, equipment for child rehabilitation, educational materials, and toys. Targeted humanitarian, social, and medical support is also provided to 35,000 children from families of key populations, including people who use drugs, sex workers, and other vulnerable groups. Human rights defenders from REACT and VONA continue to provide legal support to families with children.
Assistance to refugees was provided through the HelpNow HUB, through comprehensive support to refugee families with children, including medical consultations, psychological assistance, HIV medical care, assistance in enrolling in schools, and humanitarian aid (food, clothing, shelter). Separately, the Alliance supports more than 1,000 children with special needs from orphanages and state institutions, both locally and evacuated from the occupied and war-affected territories.
“During the war, the Alliance for Public Health supported 70,323 children and adolescents by providing critical services and humanitarian aid. The Alliance provided low-threshold services, as many of these children were neglected by other organizations. And the need is even greater! We are ready to expand our work, but we do not have more resources. On International Children’s Day, the Alliance for Public Health calls for greater prioritization of children affected by the war in Ukraine.” – Andriy Klepikov, Executive Director, Alliance for Public Health.