Collapse Of Ukraine’s Health Sector

[It should come as no surprise that Ukraine’s health sector would be among the hardest hit in the aftermath of the 2014 Western.-backed coup. As noted by the author below, the country’s health care system had already started to deteriorate following its “independence” and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 as it went on to embrace neoliberalism, privatizing its healthcare system in the process. However, it is undeniable that the year 2014 further exacerbated the problem; and now, the life expectancy has fallen, with the average male life expectancy falling to 67 years. It also does not help matters when there is a worldwide disinformation campaign against vaccines, of which the U.S. seems to be the epicenter. The measles has been making a comeback in recent years, which is alarming considering how very close it came to being eradicated. Furthermore, the economic collapse has led to a large ‘brain drain’, with many doctors and other medical staff being forced to leave Ukraine — not only because of the violence, but namely because of the constraints and the lack of funding to the health sector which make it difficult for them to practice their profession. And with a ‘brain drain’ such as this, citizens are left all the more vulnerable to the measles and other preventable diseases. –Janelle]

Collapse Of Ukraine’s Health Sector

By Drago Bosnic
July 8, 2019

KIEV, Ukraine – Last week, almost 500 people in Ukraine became ill with measles. A recent health report says 485 citizens fell ill over the past week. This was reported on Monday, July 8 at the Center for Public Health of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine.

“During the 27th week of 2019, 485 people fell ill with measles – 207 adults and 278 children. From June 28 to July 4, most new cases of measles were registered in Kiev (49 patients), Khmelnitsky (40), Kharkov (37), Chernivtsi (37) and Dnipropetrovsk (37) regions.

Since the beginning of the year, 55776 people have fallen ill with measles – 26112 adults and 29584 children, 18 of them died,” the report says.

The report also notes that since the summer of 2017 (when the first mass outbreak of measles occurred), about 110 thousand people became ill.

Earlier it was reported that since the beginning of 2019. almost 56 thousand people in Ukraine became ill with measles.

On June 10, it was reported that during an outbreak of the measles epidemic, 39 people died in Ukraine.

On May 27, it was reported that since the beginning of the year more than 50,000 Ukrainians had become sick with measles.

The report notes that on May 14 the Israeli Ministry of Health urged its citizens to refrain from traveling to countries where there is a high risk of measles infection. Ukraine was the first country on the list.

Deterioration of Ukraine, in every sense of the word, has been ongoing since it gained independence in 1991. However, this process reached its zenith and has been going unabated since 2014 Western-backed coup and there are no signs of improvement.

Original source: https://www.fort-russ.com/2019/07/collapse-of-ukraines-health-sector/ (Fort Russ)