adverti
For help, call:
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine brings with it many serious threats to public health, beyond the military violence itself, experts warn.
The conflict could make it difficult for people with conditions like diabetes or cancer to get treatment, and it may increase the spread of infectious diseases, including Covid-19, as people gather in shelters or flee the country.
Ukraine just saw its biggest surge in Covid cases so far: Its seven-day average hit a record high of 37,408 on Feb. 10, according to an NBC News tally. Less than 40 percent of the population had been vaccinated as of Feb. 15. .
Additionally, Ukraine has been facing a polio outbreak since October. Two children were known to have paralytic poliomyelitis and 19 others were infected by the virus, but the paralysis did not increase.
“The confirmation of the second case of paralysis in January 2022 shows that the virus is still circulating in the country,” World Health Organization spokesman Tarik Jašarević said in a statement. “The existing crisis in Ukraine increases the threat of internal and external virus attacks. “
As of 2020, about 87 percent of the population had received the first dose of the polio vaccine, Jašarević said. Ukraine began a vaccination campaign on Feb. 1 targeting children younger than 6 who hadn’t gotten their polio shots.
“It is vital that the campaign continues to ensure that the remaining over 100,000 children are protected,” he said.
Dr. Timothy Erickson, a physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and a university fellow at the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, said there are fears of a rise in polio cases.
“With conflicts it’s quite apparent that polio cases do not only increase but re-emerge in countries where it was once thought to be eradicated,” he said.
However, in the short term, global fitness experts are concerned about upcoming disruptions in care for others with non-communicable diseases in Ukraine.
“We’re talking about everything from insulin for diabetes to hospital medications, but also some of the most serious diseases: cancer treatments and dialysis,” said Paul Spiegel, director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Humanitarian Health.
Such disruptions can occur, Spiegel explained, if other people enter or leave the country, if an inadequate source of medicine enters Ukraine, or if hospitals are closed.
Global fitness experts expect most Ukrainians’ concerns about Covid to take a back seat to more pressing survival desires in those early days of violence, but transmission of the virus will most likely increase.
However, it will most likely be tricky to assess a Covid buildup in real time, according to Sonny Patel, a public fitness practitioner and visiting scientist at the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health.
“These numbers will have to be taken with a grain of salt, knowing that they are possibly underestimated or, in many tactics, not reported at all,” Patel said.
Jarno Habicht, the World Health Organization’s representative in Ukraine, said at a press conference on Friday that “the number of cases is very high and we are still in the most complicated era of Covid. “
He noted, however, that hospitalizations and deaths are lower than in past waves. The deadliest day of the pandemic in Ukraine occurred in mid-November.
Spiegel said that for others who will end up with severe Covid in the near future, ICU capacity may be limited due to cases of fighting-related trauma, and the already existing oxygen shortage in some parts of the country may worsen.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus announced Thursday that he has released $3. 5 million in an emergency budget to procure and deliver medical products to Ukraine.
In his speech, Habicht noted that in recent years Ukraine has been considered a star in the region in terms of progress in health care and number one reforms in health care financing. Just last week, he added, the WHO, in talks with the Ukrainian government about a long-term physical care strategy that would indicate the country’s goals until 2030.
“The question now is how is all of this going to move forward,” he said, adding, “Our priorities have now shifted to trauma care, ensuring services, continuity of care, intellectual aptitude and psychosocial support, but also moving forward. “in all areas. reforms.
Anticipating and addressing mental health impacts of the invasion, such as PTSD, will be key, experts agreed.
“Just getting through this is going to bring out a lot of mental health issues. Alcohol and substance abuse always seem to follow these types of tragedies,” Erickson said.
adverti
adverti
adverti
adverti
Advertisement
adverti
Advertising
Advertising
adverti
adverti