Ukraine’s health facilities have been hit hard by war. Between February 2022, when Russia launched its full-fledged invasion, and April 2024, the World Health Organization (WHO) documented 1,682 attacks on the healthcare system, including health providers, facilities, supplies, warehouses and transport. And there is no sign of the illegal attacks stopping.
At International Medical Corps, we’re helping health facilities keep operating despite the difficulties and danger. We support 380 primary and secondary health facilities in Ukraine, and since February 2022 have reached more than 9.7 million people with supplies, equipment and services.
The needs of different facilities vary. Here are four ways International Medical Corps is helping to ensure continuity of healthcare in Ukraine, despite the attacks.
Keeping the Generators Running at a TB Hospital
The medical staff at the Kherson Phthisiopulmonology Center carry a huge responsibility. Ukraine has one of the highest tuberculosis (TB) burdens in Europe, and this regional specialty hospital provides lifesaving care for Ukrainians with TB and other respiratory diseases. If their TB treatment is interrupted, patients’ lives will be endangered. There’s also a risk that new drug-resistant strains could develop, making future cases even harder to cure.
Since November 2022, the center has endured frequent shelling, with power outages occurring almost every day. Maintaining power is essential for all the hospital’s activities, including conducting planned and emergency operations, running intensive-care units, providing heating and water for patients and refrigerating medication to keep it stable. Regular power outages also stress the electrical system, causing additional difficulties—for example, two laboratory centrifuges and a pharmaceutical refrigerator have already broken and cannot be repaired.
The staff started using generators to keep the hospital’s power on. However, amid fuel shortages, the team worried that they wouldn’t be able to keep the generators running.
That’s where International Medical Corps stepped in. We organized a delivery of 600 liters of fuel—enough to last four to five months. With the help of the fuel, the hospital and its staff can continue providing crucial care for patients while preventing the further spread of tuberculosis.
Repairing Medical Vehicles
If you’re an ambulance worker in Ukraine, you’re three times more likely to be killed or injured than any other healthcare service worker. Despite the danger, the emergency teams in southeastern Ukraine continue to respond to urgent calls around the clock.
At the Mykolaiv Regional Center for Medical Aid and Disaster Medicine, three ambulances were damaged in Russian attacks. In Kherson, the neighboring oblast, the attacks impaired five family-medicine vehicles at the Bilozerka Center for Primary Medical and Sanitation Care. Family-medicine vehicles are used to deliver care to people who can’t travel to a medical facility due to serious illness or disability—without them, the most vulnerable people are cut off from care.
To help the teams at these two health facilities continue their important work, International Medical Corps arranged for all of the vehicles to be repaired.
“From now on, our medical workers will be able to reach patients who need help at home and provide timely medical care,” said Chori Iryna Vasylivna, the director of the Bilozerka Center for Primary Medical and Sanitation Care. “We are very grateful to International Medical Corps for the support and repair of the vehicles.”
Replacing Furniture After Rocket Attacks
When four dispensaries of the Mishkovo-Pohorilove Center of Primary Medical and Sanitary Care were hit by Russian rockets, damaging the buildings and furniture, the health workers bravely continued providing essential care for the local population. However, the damage to facilities created new challenges.
After the management team asked International Medical Corps for help and our team assessed the situation, we purchased the necessary supplies and organized delivery to the clinics, sending patient benches, baby changing tables, chairs, office tables, shelves to store medicines, cabinets for paper documents and more.
“The doctors and patients of our outpatient clinic are very grateful,” said Dr Andriy Kharkivets, one of the family doctors working at the clinic.
The furniture makes it easier for staff to find medicines quickly and retrieve documents, helping them provide more efficient care. Plus, patients are more comfortable and the new furniture provides a sense of normalcy despite their difficult situation.
Managing the Spread of Infectious Diseases with Rapid Tests
With Ukraine’s healthcare system lacking resources and staff because of the conflict, it’s especially hard to monitor and manage the spread of infectious diseases like HIV and hepatitis B and C.
The challenges of managing disease spread are particularly severe in parts of Kherson oblast, near the front line. Russia briefly occupied the area in 2022 until its liberation by Ukrainian forces late that year. Since then, shelling and rocket attacks have continued. Health services have been destroyed or disrupted, and residents seeking safety have been displaced.
To address the increased risk of infectious diseases in this region, we provided 3,000 rapid test kits to five health facilities in Kherson oblast, including hospitals, maternity homes and clinics. The tests make it quick and easy to test for HIV, tuberculosis and hepatitis B and C.
For Lilia, a young woman who had decided to leave her hometown of Kutsurub due to the attacks, the rapid tests delivered to her local clinic were a lifeline. She was planning a pregnancy and needed to take the recommended infectious disease tests first, but she didn’t know if rapid tests would be available once she left the area. She was relieved to find that her local clinic had received our shipment.
“I am very grateful,” Lilia said after receiving her test results. “International Medical Corps stands by my health.”
To help us continue protecting the health of Ukrainians—and people affected by crises around the world—donate to International Medical Corps today.