Rapid needs assessment: access to health care services 2022

Overview

On 24 February 2022 the Russian Federation launched a military offensive against Ukraine.

The timing of this crisis, coinciding with the COVID-19 pandemic, added an unprecedented challenge to the already overburdened and exhausted health system in Ukraine, including the health workforce. The large-scale attacks that caused significant movement of displaced people within and outside the country, combined with unprecedented attacks on health care, created new emergencies in Ukraine with short- and long-term public health consequences. 

The ongoing conflict in Ukraine started in 2014 and manifested quickly with shortages of health-care professionals, particularly in the eastern part of the country.

The current large-scale invasion has likely exacerbated pre-existing public health issues. As Ukraine marked one hundred days of full-scale war, WHO reported that the health system in the country was under severe pressure, with increased needs for health-care services in areas with relatively fewer hostilities and reduced ability to provide services in areas of active combat.

At a time when access to local and international data collection providers was limited, the decision was made to collect data through the crowdsourcing platform Premise, which already had a wide network of contributors (respondents) in Ukraine.