Tetiana NALEZHYTA

[ region ]

Vinnytsia

20 / 06 / 2018

Head of Department – intensive care unit for newborns at the Vinnytsia regional hospital, Vinnytsia

[ topic ] Other

In Ukraine, mortality has been steadily decreasing but remains at 7 out of 1000 children under one year-old.

Switzerland’s commitment to improving maternal and child health in Ukraine over the past 18 years has contributed to the halving of deaths of children under one.

I have been working here for the past 18 years. So I have seen the improvements. Our situation used to be quite hard. 15 years ago we were way below the European rate of survival for preterm babies. Now we reach 70% in the Vinnytsia region out of about 200 preterm births each year. We work more efficiently and with better results. A newborn weighing less than 700 grams has now a 90% chance of surviving here in our department. Our working conditions have improved, too. Thanks to the training, we have learned to organise ourselves and build up new projects, apply for grants, look for new sponsors, etc. This Swiss-funded X-Ray generator helps us in our work, as well as incubators and mechanical ventilation systems.

We work to give these newborns a better chance of living a long and healthy life.

We are now able to ensure the newborn’s comfort and to assist the development of its heart, lungs, bronchi, muscles and so on. Conditions have improved for mothers, too. They rest in modern rooms next door. They may recover as long as they need to and come to check on their babies anytime. We keep checking on children even after they are discharged, thanks to the 12-year follow-up system we have developed. We see that the youngest of them who have benefited from the changes show a reduced likelihood of diseases and malformations. This is very encouraging. What we do here is not about acquiring fancy equipment or about displaying performance statistics. We work to give these newborns a better chance of living a long and healthy life.

Since 24th February 2022

Every day, the war in Ukraine mercilessly takes the lives of hundreds of our acquaintances, relatives, colleagues, adults and children. Given the conditions of constant air raid alerts and restless anxiety, lack of equipment and medicines, the work became extremely difficult. Our building windows are barricaded with sandbags.

We have to run to bomb shelters countless times a day. The stress that comes along with the constant shout of sirens does not help the recovery of premature newborns. Regardless, none of the staff quit one’s position. We work and we adapt to perform our job as good as possible even in such conditions. We live on. We believe in the victory and restoration of our state.

after

24 feb 2022

What else is Switzerland doing for Ukraine?

Switzerland has been assisting those impacted through various means – from humanitarian aid, humanitarian demining and financial support to granting protection status S to individuals from Ukraine seeking refuge. By 15 February 2024, the Swiss federal government had spent a total of around 3 billion Swiss francs to support Ukrainian refugees in Switzerland and people in Ukraine.

In 2022, Switzerland organised the first Ukraine Recovery Conference in Lugano and launched the political process to help Ukraine rebuild. The Summit on Peace in Ukraine, held in Switzerland in 2024, set up a path towards a just and lasting peace in Ukraine. In the longer term, the Federal Council aims to allocate 1.5 billion Swiss francs to support Ukraine's recovery efforts by 2028.

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