Health in Ukraine

The crumbling, poorly financed healthcare system and rumours that children have fallen ill or even died after being immunised have led to a very poor vaccination rate.[1][2][3] In August 2016, 30% of children in Ukraine were fully immunized against measles, 10%, against hepatitis B, and 3% of against diphtheria, pertussis and tetanus.[4] At the time Ukraine had the lowest routine immunization rate in the world.[4]

As of June 2019, Ukraine is suffering one of the world's worst measles epidemics with more than 100,000 cases since 2017, with 16 deaths in 2018. In 2016 only 31% of the population had been immunised with the MMR vaccine. Various reasons are given for the low rate of vaccination including: a distrust of the state in the 1990s, a failure to keep vaccine supplies reliably refrigerated leading to ineffectiveness, a poorly informed medical profession and a high level of vaccine distrust in the wider population. Children are required to be vaccinated before entering the school system, but Unicef estimates that as many as 30% of vaccination certificates are falsified.[5][6]

According to a study, entitled "Main reasons for the high death rate in Ukraine" conducted by the World Bank and released in December 2010 every third Ukrainian aged 18–65, including every fifth aged 18–25, had a high blood pressure. Almost 29% of the respondents suffered from being overweight, and 20% suffered from obesity.[7]

According to the above-mentioned 2010 World Bank study 36% (28.6% is the average in Europe) of Ukrainians smoke tobacco, including 31% of those who smoke every day. Men with primary education and women with higher education are inclined to smoking. Some 80% of daily smokers are men. The average age that daily smokers start the habit is decreasing, and at present is 16 years. In the younger age group there are four times as many smokers as in the older age group. The smallest percentage of smokers is to be found in the west of the country (24.6%), while the largest is in the east (34%).[8]

2.7 million people in Ukraine (6%[9]) were reported as having a disability in 2014.[10] This number did not include the (reportedly) 1.5% of people with temporary disabilities.[10] In 2014, 35% of people aged 60–70 had some age-related disability. For people aged over 80 years, this number grew to 50%.[10]

Ukraine is notoriously "disability unfriendly".[10][11] For example, in the capital Kyiv only 4% of infrastructure is considered to be "disability friendly".[10]

Ukraine has one of the fastest growing HIV/AIDS epidemics in the world. About 1.63 percent of Ukrainian adults, or about 756,300 citizens, were estimated to be living with HIV/AIDS in 2007, up from 1.46 percent of the population in 2005, or 685,600 citizens, according to UNAIDS. The statistics only reflect official cases, while those infected is likely higher according to UNAIDS.[12] The number of HIV/AIDS cases in Ukraine reduced by 200 or 3.9% to 4,900 in the period of January–November 2008, compared with the corresponding period of last year. Ukraine has one of the highest rates of increase of HIV/AIDS cases in Eastern Europe.[13]

A 2017 article in The Independent reports that due to its mainly macho, patriarchal culture there is great resistance to psychotherapy in Ukraine. Weak mechanisms for licensing effective counsellors aggravates this resistance and a shame fostered by the years Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union[nb 1] compounds the problem, owing to Soviet authorities rendering psychiatry a tool for punishment (by imprisoning political dissidents in asylums) demonised mental health issues further.[15]