Ukraine
WHO Special Initiative for Mental Health
Ukraine was selected to be part of the WHO’s Director General’s Special Initiative for Mental Health in 2021 to (i) strengthen mental health governance, financing and leadership; (ii) promote human rights of people with mental health conditions and psychosocial disabilities; (iii) develop a mental health workforce; (iv) scale-up community-based mental health services; and (v) strengthen mental health information systems, surveillance and service evaluation.
Strengthening Mental Health Systems
Through activities under the Special Initiative for Mental Health, Ukraine is strengthening mental health systems across the country. This includes:
Implementing the National Mental Health and Psychosocial Support Programme.
Developing additional online self-paced courses on management of mental health conditions in primary healthcare settings in Ukraine (new modules and remote supervision).
Promoting community mental health services.
Scaling up psychological interventions across the country.
Launching the QualityRights training programme.
Resources
News
Videos
Ukraine First Lady's speech
Ukraine First Lady's speech about the importance of mental health support during and after the war
At the plenary session of the World Health Assembly on Monday 23 May 2022, the First Lady of Ukraine Olena Zelenska urged the WHO to help manage the country's mental health crisis, warning that the effects of the war with Russia could be felt for decades.
“The war unleashed by Russia showed us horrors that we could not even imagine” said the First Lady of Ukraine “WHO is committed to protecting the most important human rights, the rights to health and life. Both of these rights are now being violated in Ukraine. Not a single Ukrainian - neither a child nor an adult - is sure that tomorrow they will simply wake up, that a rocket will not hit the house where this person lives. Doctors are not sure that ambulances will not be bombed on their way to patients.”
