WHO claims 1 among 5 Ukrainians can’t afford medicine

• One out of every five Ukrainians has difficulty accessing medicine.
• The situation is worse in Russian-occupied Ukrainian territories, where one in every three individuals lacks access to medicine.
• This winter, particularly the snow that has already fallen in areas of Ukraine, will present a “formidable challenge” to the health-care system.

The World Health Organization’s representative in Ukraine, one out of every five Ukrainians has difficulty accessing medicine,  according to Dr. Jarno Habicht.

The situation is worse in Russian-occupied Ukrainian territories, where one in every three individuals lacks access to medicine, Habicht said during a news conference in Kyiv on Monday.

This winter season, particularly the snow that has already fallen in areas of Ukraine, would present a “formidable challenge” to the health-care system, he noted.

According to the WHO official, ongoing attacks on Ukraine’s health infrastructure have impacted the availability of health services such as medicine, Covid-19 vaccines, and machinery in hospital intensive care units.

“I would say that with 50% of the civilian energy infrastructure being damaged or destroyed at a moment that there is a onset of a brutal winter where temperatures can plummet down to minus 20 degrees, that this is to be considered as the largest attack on health care on European soil since the Second World War,” WHO Europe’s regional director Hans Kluge said at the same news briefing.

According to the most recent WHO data, the organisation has confirmed 703 attacks on health-care facilities in Ukraine since the conflict began in February.

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