Ukrainian paediatrics of the future: current problems and prospects for improvement
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.57125/FEM.2023.06.30.04Keywords:
Ukrainian, paediatrics, current problems, prospects, future, improvementAbstract
This article focuses on “Ukrainian paediatrics of the future: current problems and prospects for improvement.
Aims: objectives of the research study are to identify the current problems and challenges facing paediatric healthcare in Ukraine, including issues related to healthcare professionals, infrastructure, vaccination coverage, healthcare spending and public awareness of paediatric health and prevention; areas for improvement after analyses of previous initiatives; potential for future improvements in paediatric healthcare in Ukraine, including prospects related to national vaccination programs, telemedicine and digital health, medical research, the patient-centered care, medical education and training, improved healthcare infrastructure, and public-private partnerships.
Study design: Descriptive cross-sectional study
Place and Duration of Study: The majority of the studies were conducted on patients, professionals’ healthcare establishment and policy maker stakeholders in the Ukraine.
Methodology: In order to collect secondary data a questionnaire was used.
Results: Ukraine has just 665 hospital beds per 100,000 residents in 2019 compared to 417 doctors per 100,000 in 2000. The pace of replacement for most medical equipment is sluggish. Since 2019, the rates of infant, under-five, and neonatal death have been mostly steady. The rates of BCG and measles vaccination coverage have fluctuated, although they have typically gone down. The biggest problem with paediatric healthcare in Ukraine is a lack of money, which leads to a dearth of medical personnel, supplies, and equipment, as well as a high incidence of diseases that may be prevented because of a lack of public awareness of paediatric health.
Conclusion: Paediatrics faces challenges, including inadequate healthcare infrastructure and a high infant and child mortality rate. Prospects for improvement, such as the development of telemedicine and e-health services, improving maternal and child healthcare services, and increasing investment in research and development. By addressing these challenges and investing in these prospects, the country can significantly improve the health and wellbeing of its children.
References
Romanyshyn Y, Voznytsa Y, Romanyshyn B, Lischuk-Yakymovych K, et al. Diarrhoea in a 2-year-old boy – thinking beyond the gut. Pediatr Med Rodz [Internet]. 2018;14(2):237–40. Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.15557/pimr.2018.0025
Loboda A. Child healthcare system in Ukraine. Turk Pediatri Ars [Internet]. 2020; 55: Supplement S98-S104 Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.14744/turkpediatriars.2020.82997
Ukraine - infant mortality rate 2011-2021 [Internet]. Statista. [cited 2022 May 12]. Available from: https://www.statista.com/statistics/807836/infant-mortality-in-ukraine/
430,000 children continue to bear the brunt of eastern Ukraine conflict [Internet]. Unicef.org. [cited 2022 May 12]. Available from: https://www.unicef.org/press-releases/430000-children-continue-bear-brunt-eastern-ukraine-conflict
National Health Service of Ukraine first reports on its activities and identifies top five most active regions [Internet]. Gov.ua. [cited 2022 May 12]. Available from: https://www.kmu.gov.ua/en/news/moz-yaki-regioni-stali-liderami-za-viplatami-vid-nacsluzhbi-zdorovya
Ottolini M, Cirks B, Madden KB, Rajnik M. Pediatric infectious diseases encountered during wartime-part 1: Experiences and lessons learned from armed conflict in the modern era. Curr Infect Dis Rep [Internet]. 2021;23(12):27. Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11908-021-00770-1
Rynhach NO, Moiseenko RO. Calculation of loss of child mortality in ukraine as an instrument for estimation of achievements of sustainable development goals in Ukraine. Wiad Lek [Internet]. 2019 [cited 2022 May 12];72(5 cz 2):1145–9. Available from: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31175761/
Bate R, Mathur A. Corruption and medicine quality in Latin America: A pilot study. B E J Econom Anal Policy [Internet]. 2018;18(2). Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/bejeap-2017-0076
Vian T. Anti-corruption, transparency and accountability in health: concepts, frameworks, and approaches. Glob Health Action [Internet]. 2020;13(sup1):1694744. Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/16549716.2019.1694744
García PJ. Corruption in global health: the open secret. Lancet [Internet]. 2019;394(10214):2119–24. Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(19)32527-9
Klas J, Grzywacz A, Kulszo K, Grunwald A, Kluz N, Makaryczew M, et al. Challenges in the medical and psychosocial care of the paediatric refugee-A systematic review. Int J Environ Res Public Health [Internet]. 2022;19(17):10656. Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph191710656
Health systems in action: Ukraine [Internet]. Who.int. [cited 2022 May 12]. Available from: https://eurohealthobservatory.who.int/publications/i/health-systems-in-action-ukraine
Ukraine (UKR) - demographics, health & infant mortality [Internet]. UNICEF DATA. 2020 [cited 2023 May 12]. Available from: https://data.unicef.org/country/ukr/
Ukraine - infant mortality rate 2011-2021 [Internet]. Statista. [cited 2023 May 12]. Available from: https://www.statista.com/statistics/807836/infant-mortality-in-ukraine/
WHO immunization data portal [Internet]. Who.int. [cited 2023 May 12]. Available from: https://immunizationdata.who.int/listing.html?topic=coverage&location=UKR
Ukraine [Internet]. Who.int. [cited 2023 May 12]. Available from: https://www.who.int/countries/ukr
External health expenditure per capita, PPP (current international $) - Ukraine [Internet]. World Bank Open Data. [cited 2023 May 12]. Available from: https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SH.XPD.EHEX.PP.CD?locations=UA
Strategic-paediatric-alliance.org. [cited 2023 May 12]. Available from: http://www.strategic-paediatric-alliance.org/content/page/13/paediatric-primary-care-europe-variation-between-countries
Sawyer SM, all authors. Avoiding a rigid age of paediatrics - Authors’ reply. Lancet Child Adolesc Health [Internet]. 2019;3(12):e15. Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S2352-4642(19)30344-X
Who emro [Internet]. World Health Organization - Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean. [cited 2023 May 12]. Available from: https://www.emro.who.int/nursing/countries/
Nurses & allied healthcare professionals [Internet]. ESICM. 2017 [cited 2023 May 12]. Available from: https://www.esicm.org/the-esicm/nahp/
English publisher. Health service delivery [Internet]. World Health Organization - Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean. [cited 2023 May 12]. Available from: https://www.emro.who.int/pak/programmes/service-delivery.html
Countries in WHO South-East Asia Region need 1.9 million more nurses, midwives to achieve health for all [Internet]. Who.int. [cited 2023 May 12]. Available from: https://www.who.int/southeastasia/news/detail/07-04-2020-countries-in-who-south-east-asia-region-need-1.9-million-more-nurses-midwives-to-achieve-health-for-all
Nursing and midwifery [Internet]. Who.int. [cited 2023 May 12]. Available from: https://www.who.int/southeastasia/health-topics/nursing
Pecoraro F, Luzi D, Clemente F. The efficiency in the ordinary hospital bed management: A comparative analysis in four European countries before the COVID-19 outbreak. PLoS One [Internet]. 2021;16(3):e0248867. Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0248867
Pop TL. Overview of the pediatric healthcare system in Romania. Turk Pediatri Ars [Internet]. 2020; Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.14744/turkpediatriars.2020.77775
Health System Strengthening: Transforming the health information system in Bangladesh [Internet]. Unicef.org. [cited 2022 May 12]. Available from: https://www.unicef.org/rosa/reports/health-system-strengthening-transforming-health-information-system-bangladesh
Shawon MSR, Adhikary G, Ali MW, Shamsuzzaman M, Ahmed S, Alam N, et al. General service and child immunization-specific readiness assessment of healthcare facilities in two selected divisions in Bangladesh. BMC Health Serv Res [Internet]. 2018;18(1):39. Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12913-018-2858-7
Manickavasagar V, Mace A, Skull S. Clinician and caregiver experience of telehealth during COVID-19 pandemic supports future use. J Paediatr Child Health [Internet]. 2022;58(1):211–3. Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/jpc.15831
United Nations Children’s Fund. The state of the world’s children 2021: On my mind promoting, protecting and caring for children’s mental health [Internet]. United Nations; 2021. Available from: https://www.unicef.org/reports/state-worlds-children-2021
Liang F-W, Chen M, Wu M-H, Lue H-C, Chiang T-L, Lu T-H. Infant mortality rates based on two registration criteria for live births: A comparison of Taiwan with 26 European countries. Pediatr Neonatol [Internet]. 2019;60(2):224–6. Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.pedneo.2018.06.00
Child mortality (under 5 years) [Internet]. Who.int. [cited 2022 May 12]. Available from: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/levels-and-trends-in-child-under-5-mortality-in-2020
OECD, World Health Organization. Health at a glance: Asia/pacific 2020: Measuring progress towards universal health coverage. [Internet] OECD; 2020. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1787/26B007CD-EN.
Infant mortality [Internet]. Oecd-ilibrary.org. [cited 2022 May 12]. Available from: https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/sites/f7b3e551-en/index.html?itemId=/content/component/f7b3e551-en
Smiianov VA, Zaitseva HS, Kurganskaya VA, Dyachenko AG, Zbarazhskyi VP, Smiianov YV, et al. Vaccination coverage rates and the incidence of vaccine preventable diseases among children in sumy region of Ukraine. Wiad Lek [Internet]. 2019;72(2):255–60. Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.36740/wlek201902121
Measles immunization in Europe 2021 [Internet]. Statista. [cited 2022 May 12]. Available from: https://www.statista.com/statistics/1122312/measles-immunization-in-europe/
Immunisation and childhood vaccination [Internet]. European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. 2018 [cited 2023 May 12]. Available from: https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/all-topics-z/measles/prevention-and-control/immunisation-and-childhood-vaccination
Polio immunization rate in Europe in 2018, by country [Internet]. Statista. [cited 2023 May 12]. Available from: https://www.statista.com/statistics/1122618/polio-immunization-in-europe/
GHO | By category | Polio (Pol3) - Immunization coverage estimates by country. [cited 2023 May 12]; Available from: https://apps.who.int/gho/data/node.main.A831?lang=en
Measles cases reported in Europe 1999 to 2022 [Internet]. Statista. [cited 2022 May 12]. Available from: https://www.statista.com/statistics/1122761/measles-cases-in-europe-timeline/
Measles cases reported in Europe 2021, by country [Internet]. Statista. [cited 2022 May 12]. Available from: https://www.statista.com/statistics/632154/measles-cases-reported-in-europe/
Public spending ratio in EU countries 2021 [Internet]. Statista. [cited 2022 May 12]. Available from: https://www.statista.com/statistics/263220/public-spending-ratio-in-eu-countries/
Global health expenditure database [Internet]. Who.int. [cited 2022 May 12]. Available from: https://apps.who.int/nha/database/country_profile/Index/en
Per capita health expenditure by country 2021 [Internet]. Statista. [cited 2023 May 12]. Available from: https://www.statista.com/statistics/236541/per-capita-health-expenditure-by-country/
How does health spending in the U.S. compare to other countries? [Internet]. Peterson-KFF Health System Tracker. 2023 [cited 2023 May 12]. Available from: https://www.healthsystemtracker.org/chart-collection/health-spending-u-s-compare-countries/
Health systems in action: Ukraine [Internet]. Who.int. [cited 2023 May 12]. Available from: https://eurohealthobservatory.who.int/publications/i/health-systems-in-action-ukraine
Rice T, Rosenau P, Unruh LY, Barnes AJ. United States: Health system review. Health Syst Transit. 2020;22(4):1–441.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2023 author
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
