“When the invasion began, it was chaos. We were overwhelmed by bombings and displaced people,” says Dr. Kyrylo Kliukach. Working as an emergency physician in Dnipro, a major city in eastern Ukraine, Dr. Kliukach and his colleagues have bravely assisted people injured in air strikes and missile attacks targeting the city since the start of Russia’s invasion in February 2022.
Theirs is a challenging and risky job. Russian attacks have targeted healthcare services throughout the country, with the World Health Organization (WHO) reporting that there have been more than 2,000 attacks on Ukraine’s healthcare system since the start of the full-scale war. These attacks alone have caused 670 injuries and almost 200 deaths. Earlier this year, WHO calculated that ambulance workers had triple the risk of injury and death of any other Ukrainian health workers.
Amid these difficult circumstances, two facts are clear. First, as demand for medical services skyrockets, Ukraine’s frontline healthcare workers are facing immense challenges. Second, in the overwhelming circumstances of dangerous working conditions, damaged facilities, and staff and supply shortages, they urgently need support.
International Medical Corps—which has worked in Ukraine since 1999—has increased its training and capacity-building efforts in the country in response. Since February 2022, we have trained almost 12,000 people in healthcare-related topics and nearly 5,000 in mental health topics.
“The guiding principle for us is localization,” says Ukraine Country Director Matthew Stearns. “We’re working to build the capacity of local populations so that they can respond to crises—whether that’s with medical training, mental health care training or other types of skills. And that’s what makes our work so sustainable: as we train people, and they teach others, it creates ripples of knowledge and skills that grow exponentially around the country.”
Emergency Care and Trauma Management
The number of trauma patients continues to grow as air strikes batter Ukraine’s cities, causing explosions and destruction that harms civilians. To help frontline healthcare workers refresh their knowledge and learn the latest techniques for responding to these emergencies, International Medical Corps runs a seven-part emergency- and trauma-care training program in partnership with the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative (HHI), supported by USAID’s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance.
Dr. Kliukach and his colleagues in Dnipro were among the Ukrainian healthcare workers who participated in one of these programs, completing courses in advanced trauma life support, and chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and explosives (CBRNE) care, gaining knowledge and skills that they then used in their work near the front line. The course also taught them how to take care of their own well-being during and after responding to crises—a crucial topic for emergency responders dealing with these dangerous and stressful situations.
With his new skills, Dr. Kliukach has started playing a more active role in coordinating complex rescue operations and evacuating people from near the frontlines. He has even qualified as an instructor and conducts trauma training in cities across Ukraine in addition to his main work as an emergency physician.
“Thanks to International Medical Corps, I have the necessary trauma care and self-care skills to work close to the front line while maintaining my strength,” said Dr. Kliukach.
First Aid and Basic Life Support
In emergencies, basic life-support (BLS) skills—such as cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and using an automated external defibrillator (AED) to treat a person whose heart has suddenly stopped working—are absolutely essential. Though Ukraine’s health workers have learned these basic skills at some point in their careers, the pressures of their work after almost three years of war and limited opportunities for continued training means that many can benefit from reviewing these skills and renewing their qualifications. After evaluating Ukrainian health workers’ needs and realizing that there was a gap in basic life-support knowledge, International Medical Corps began providing this all-important training to professionals around the country.
For example, we recently ran a BLS training session for 60 healthcare workers in Kyivska oblast. Many attendees were from Kyivska Oblast Emergency Medical Center, which operates 160 emergency teams throughout the oblast, and the Markariv Primary Healthcare Center. Led by three experienced trainers, the sessions focused on BLS for adult patients, covering such essential skills as performing CPR, using an AED and handling choking and drowning emergencies.
“We are grateful for the high level of organization and the excellent quality of the training materials,” said Serhii Solomenko, director of the Makariv Primary Healthcare Center. “These skills will significantly improve the quality of emergency care provided in critical situations and enhance the awareness of healthcare workers in the Makariv community.”
Diagnostics and Cancer Screening
In addition to injuries caused directly by the fighting, the war has also had a devastating indirect impact on other medical conditions. Attacks on healthcare infrastructure and workers, shortages of equipment and specialists, and the mass displacement of the population have all led to significant challenges when it comes to detecting and treating noncommunicable diseases.
One example is cancer screening. Ukraine had a high burden of cancer even before February 2022: according to a report in The Lancet, there were 160,000 new cancer diagnoses in Ukraine in 2020 alone, and the country has one of the world’s highest childhood cancer mortality rates. The earlier that cancer is diagnosed, the more likely its treatment will be successful. However, when a country is at war, cancer screening and training tend to fall lower down healthcare priority lists—especially when it comes to health services offered near the front lines.
To address this, International Medical Corps conducted oncology training for key healthcare workers in Khersonska and Mykolaivska oblasts—two regions near the front line in the south of the country. We trained family doctors, pediatricians and therapists in oncology screening management, providing them with both theoretical and practical skills in cancer prevention and early detection.
Another training session we ran in southern Ukraine covered ultrasound diagnostics. Ultrasounds are used to diagnose a range of potentially dangerous medical conditions concerning the heart, blood vessels, kidneys and more. This session taught healthcare professionals to identify urgent conditions and take swift action to help people before their conditions become life-threatening.
Mental Health
The war has had a significant impact on Ukrainians’ mental health, with anxiety, depression, stress and problems sleeping becoming increasingly common conditions. The impact is only growing as the war continues: according to Ukraine’s Health Ministry, the number of patients who received help for mental health problems more than doubled between 2023 and 2024.
As the number of people with mental health conditions grows, the need for mental health services also increases. However, the conflict has strained the country’s already-limited mental health infrastructure, and the ongoing stigma against seeking help has made supporting Ukrainians’ mental health especially difficult.
To help build Ukraine’s capacity to meet its citizens’ mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) needs, International Medical Corps is co-leading the country’s MHPSS Technical Working Group and providing training throughout the country.
One of our strategies focuses on increasing the capacity of healthcare workers by training them using the WHO Mental Health Gap Action Programme (mhGAP) framework. In these training sessions, primary healthcare workers without a background in MHPSS learn how to better identify, treat and refer people for treatment of mental health conditions that doesn’t rely on medicines, such as psychological counseling.
We also teach psychologists working in frontline communities how to facilitate an evidence-based program called Self Help Plus (SH+). This is a program that they can run in their communities that helps people manage their own stress and well-being, especially in isolated village contexts where residents might not be able to access other types of mental health support.
Drug Safety
Monitoring and preventing any possible negative effects of medication throughout its development, storage, prescription and use—a practice known as pharmacovigilance—is essential and can be challenging at the best of times. During a war, ensuring the safety of medications becomes even more difficult. Disrupted supply chains, medicine shortages, damage to storage facilities and changing patterns of demand all make it harder to maintain safety standards.
That’s why International Medical Corps has started training health workers in pharmacovigilance and drug safety. This includes teaching participants about best practices for disposing of expired items, avoiding the misuse of medicines and protecting patients from pharmaceutical errors.
One recent pharmacovigilance training session focused on pharmacists working near the fighting in southern Ukraine. The session made a significant difference to the workers’ knowledge of best practices, with pre- and post-training questionnaires revealing that their average knowledge level had increased by nearly 40%.
As the war drags on, Ukraine needs continued humanitarian assistance. With your generous support, International Medical Corps has already helped almost 500 health facilities and reached more than 9.7 million people with supplies, medicines, equipment and services since February 2022.
To help us continue supporting Ukraine’s frontline health workers and civilians—as well as other crisis-affected people around the globe—donate to International Medical Corps today.