How the Red Cross Supports Health Centres in Ukraine

Posted August 22, 2024 by Red Cross Talks - Red Cross blogger

By Leland MacLachlan, Manager, Creative Services & Donor Impact, Canadian Red Cross

On July 8, 2024, a wave of explosions struck Kyiv, Dnipro, Kryvyi Rih, and Sloviansk in Ukraine.

Okhmatdyt Children's Hospital, the largest pediatrics facility in Ukraine, was partially destroyed. The Centre for Pediatric Cardiology and Cardiac Surgery, located inside Okhmatdyt Children's Hospital, was also impacted. A member of the Ukrainian Red Cross Rapid Response Unit stands before a damaged maternity hospital in Dnipro on December 29, 2023.
Credit: Ukrainian Red Cross Society

"We reached the hospital as soon as possible," explains Olena from the Ukrainian Red Cross. "We saw that one of the buildings was destroyed. The emergency response team immediately joined the rescue services to provide emergency support."

Ukrainian Red Cross teams helped evacuate injured children and adults, clear rubble, and provided first aid and psychosocial support. While the destruction of the Okhmatdyt Children's Hospital received international media attention, such destruction is all too familiar for people in Ukraine.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), there have been over 1,920 attacks since February 2022 on Ukraine's health sector, impacting health providers, hospitals, supplies, warehouses, and transport, including ambulances.

Join the Red Cross in Supporting Ukraine's Health Centres

Every day, the Ukrainian Red Cross and their international Red Cross Red Crescent partners, including the Canadian Red Cross, work to support healthcare in Ukraine-providing medications and supplies, refurbishing and repairing damaged health facilities, and operating Mobile Health Units to deliver healthcare to rural and hard-to-reach communities.

Between now and October 15, 2024, donations to the Ukraine Humanitarian Crisis Appeal will specifically support the repair, refurbishing, and replenishing health centres in Ukraine.

You can give healthcare in Ukraine a lifeline so doctors and nurses can continue to do what they do best-save lives.

To find out more about how the Canadian Red Cross has been helping in Ukraine since the escalation of the international armed conflict in February 2022, read our 2-year donor update.

Related stories:
Hope Amidst Hardship: Canadian Red Cross Humanitarian Support in Ukraine and Surrounding Countries
Kelsey Lemon: on the Ground Perspective in Ukraine
Red Cross in action: How we are reaching people in Ukraine and surrounding countries
How Canadians can help in a humanitarian crisis: Ukraine and surrounding countries

• Tags:
• Conflicts
• Disaster recovery
• fundraising