18:21 18.11.2020

USAID, RMHC to jointly implement family-centered approaches in Ukraine's healthcare

2 min read
USAID, RMHC to jointly implement family-centered approaches in Ukraine's healthcare

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC) announced a four-year partnership program worth $12 million to introduce family-centered approaches in the health care system of Ukraine.

Assistant Administrator for USAID's Bureau for Europe and Eurasia Brock Bierman said at an online press conference on Wednesday that they will try to make family-centered healthcare approaches as affordable as possible.

U.S. Embassy-Kyiv Chargé d’Affaires Kristina Kvien said that the United States supports the Ukrainian government and the public sector in developing the most efficient and transparent healthcare sector. She said that families and their children should have access to life-saving health care when needed, and not feel significant financial hardship.

Kvien said that RMHC will leverage USAID funding with $6 million in direct and in-kind support from the private sector.

First Deputy Minister of Health of Ukraine Iryna Sadoviak said that the development of family-centered medicine, which is the goal of this cooperation, is very necessary for Ukraine.

"This improves and accelerates the child's recovery, therefore, on the one hand, we must create conditions that will allow the whole family to be involved in the child's treatment, and on the other hand, we must teach medical workers the benefits of such family-centered medicine, help them acquire the skills of effective communication with patients and their families," she said.

At the moment, in Ukraine, there are already five family rooms in hospitals in five cities, director of RMHC in Ukraine Halyna Solovey said. She said that the maintenance of one family room costs more than UAH 1 million per year, and in the incomplete three years of the existence of family rooms in Ukraine, they have already been used 65,000 times.

Solovey also said that with the help of funding from USAID, RMHC will be able to cover the educational program of all hospitals in the country, not only existing ones, but also future doctors. "Partnership with USAID will allow us to expand the activities of the foundation (RMHC) to introduce a family-centered approach to treatment in Ukraine," she said.

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