Access to health-care services for older persons and persons with disabilities living in Eastern Ukraine along the "line of contact" (2021)

The conflict in eastern Ukraine has caused a deterioration in the level of access to good-quality health-care services, and people living in the area – particularly those living closer to the ‘’line of contact’’ – face difficulties seeking such services. In the two oblasts of Luhansk and Donetsk, where health indicators were among the lowest even before the conflict, the situation has grown worse, leaving those living in the area to face increased health expenditure, including transport costs and out-of-pocket payments for services that are supposed to be free.

The humanitarian crisis in Ukraine is particularly hard on older persons, with 30% of all people in need of humanitarian assistance aged 60 years or over. Younger people have fled the area in search of better livelihood opportunities elsewhere, leaving behind the majority of older persons and persons with disabilities to live on their own. Limited mobility and lack of alternative transport arrangements mean that these population groups require regular care that is close to their places of residence.

This paper gives an analysis of secondary data collected by HelpAge International as part of a project targeting beneficiaries of humanitarian aid in the two oblasts in 2018 and 2019. Levels of access to health-care services in the two years under review are compared; then recommendations are made for short- and long-term measures that would help to address the particular health-care needs of the population groups concerned.