Partners in Health project cares for lives in Ukraine (01/26/97)

Partners in Health project cares for lives in Ukraine

by Christopher Guly

OTTAWA - According to Ukraine's Health Ministry, over 6 million Ukrainians suffer from cardiovascular disease, 1.2 million have a psychological impairment, 720,000 are alcohol dependent, 56,000 are addicted to drugs and 600,000 have tuberculosis. Furthermore, one out of every four Ukrainians carries an infectious disease.

In Canada, with a population of 30 million, about $2,000 is spent on health care on a per capita basis, while in Ukraine, with a population of 53 million, only $25 (U.S.) is spent on a per capita basis.

The health of Ukrainians is "horrible," said Paulette Schatz, program manager of the Ottawa-based Canadian Society for International Health's Partners in Health project. Last December Ms. Schatz escorted Ukrainian Health Minister Andrii Serdiuk on a Canadian tour that took him to Ottawa, Toronto, Reging and where he met with Saskatchewan Premier Roy Romanow, a Ukrainian Canadian, and received an update on the curriculum-based Saskatchewan-Ukraine Healthy Schools Project, as well as Victoria, where he met with British Columbia Heath Minister Joy MacPhail.

Dr. Serdiuk, a 58-year-old epidemiologist who became Ukraine's health minister last September, came to Canada to familiarize himself with the country's publicly funded health system at the federal, provincial and municipal levels; meet with professional colleagues from such organizations as the Canadian Medical Association; and forge stronger links with his Canadian counterpart, David Dingwall.

To that end, Dr. Serdiuk signed a memorandum on cooperation with Mr. Dingwall to promote and facilitate "healthy" relations between the two countries, which will include exchanges between government agencies, health institutions and health professionals. Ms. Schatz said she hopes the agreement will also lead to increased Canadian awareness about the dismal state of health of Ukrainians.

That could be difficult, given the federal government's emphasis on aid to developing countries. She noted that a recent government survey found that most Canadians supported continued foreign aid support for Third World countries. Television images and the highly visible campaigns waged by such non-governmental organizations as Care Canada and Oxfam reinforce the image of disease and famine in Africa and Asia.

Ottawa took note and, according to Ms. Schatz, who spent 11 years as a foreign worker in Ghana, Zimbabwe and Nigeria, has lessened its emphasis on Central and East European countries.

"Yet, in fact, Ukraine is the linchpin to the stability of East European states," she said. "Our Canadian public is not being educated as to how important it is for us to be working in that part of the world if we want to continue to have peace in the world."

For Dr. Serdiuk, the gravity of the situation hits a lot closer to home. Ukraine's birth rate is declining, while mortality is on the rise, he said, during his Canadian tour. "Demographically, a sinister downward trend can be tracked. In the not-too-distant future, the consequences for the Ukrainian nation may become disastrous."

Mr. Dingwall offered Dr. Serdiuk no money during his visit. That's no surprise, considering the federal Liberal government is gearing up for a federal election later this year and is overly cautious of siphoning health dollars away from Canada's already strained medicare system.

The Partners in Health (PIH) project itself may not even survive beyond March 31, 1998, when its third phase of funding - valued at $1.4 million ($1 million U.S.) over two years - ends. "If the decision was to be made today, we probably wouldn't get any more money," explained Ms. Schatz.

Since its inception in 1992, PIH has undergone three different phases of funding, with all the necessary proposal writing and waiting that comes with such an arrangement. As a result, Ms. Schatz said the program has managed to pull two years' worth of "real" work in the field - not counting the time spent preparing bids for funding over the last four years of PIH's existence.

Although the Ukrainian Canadian Congress is mandated to promote the work of PIH and other Canada-Ukraine Partners Program members that are funded by the Canadian International Development Agency, PIH handles its own publicity and marketing.

Still, Ms. Schatz said such initiatives as Dr. Serdiuk's recent visit serve to illustrate how important both her program and the Canadian focus on Ukraine's health system is for Ukrainians. "The minister pulled me aside during his visit and said, 'Why haven't you people been pushing your system?'" Ms. Schatz related. "He said he was going to pull many examples from Canada to use back home."

| Home Page |