Consensus meeting on the assessment of the Ukrainian emergency care system

On 30–31 May 2017, the Ministry of Health of Ukraine in collaboration with WHO conducted a consensus meeting on the assessment of the Ukrainian emergency care system.  Emergency care systems are a key substrate for effective emergency response and for mitigating the risk of system collapse (and therefore, secondary mortality) in the face of large-scale emergencies.

The meeting was made possible thanks to the generous support of the government of Germany. In order to identify strengths and gaps, and identify priority actions for the scale-up of emergency care delivery in Ukraine, 20 leaders from public and private sectors across the country convened in Sumy to review the results of an online survey conducted in April and May 2017.

During the meeting, emergency care stakeholders went through the results of the survey and established consensus for all components of the assessment. Priorities for action – in the areas of governance and finance, data collection and analysis, data quality improvement, infrastructure, facility-based care, emergency preparedness and security – were derived and ranked systematically to guide Ministry efforts in development of the emergency care system. Participants also discussed experiences, success stories and lessons learned from Italy and Germany. Next steps and further collaboration between the Ministry of Health of Ukraine and WHO were discussed.

The Federal Foreign Office of Germany donated €2.5 million to WHO to deliver emergency health services to crisis-affected people in Ukraine. The funds are used to fill critical gaps in essential and lifesaving medical supplies for the conflict-affected, and to ensure provision of enhanced access to essential quality health-care services.