First Lady of Ukraine Olena Zelenska took part in the transfer of new neonatal ambulances to medical institutions in the country. 20 vehicles with state-of-the-art neonatal care equipment were delivered to Ukraine by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) at the request of the President's wife and the Ministry of Health of Ukraine.
The vehicles are equipped with specialized equipment to provide emergency care to women in labor and infants on the road. In particular, there are transport incubators, artificial lung ventilation devices for newborns, AccuVein vein visualization devices, resuscitation cases, phototherapy devices for treating newborn jaundice and measuring bilirubin levels, etc.
Minister of Health Viktor Liashko, representatives of UNICEF and the Ministry of Health also took part in the solemn transfer of ambulances to medical institutions.
Olena Zelenska emphasized the importance of these vehicles for Ukrainian medicine in general and newborn care in particular.
"Since the beginning of the Russian invasion, a quarter of a million children have been born in Ukraine. This means that their mothers heard alarms, ran to bomb shelters, and were nervous. Sometimes they didn't have timely access to medicine. Sometimes they gave birth in unusual conditions for women in labor. The number of premature births increased by 10% last year alone, and this is a direct result of the war. Children who were supposed to come into the world in normal conditions are coming into the world in extreme conditions," the First Lady said.
The President's wife emphasized that the supply of neonatal ambulances was the result of negotiations on the margins of the UN General Assembly in the autumn of 2022, in particular her meetings with Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund Natalia Kanem
and Executive Director of UN Women Sima Bahous.
"We need to make sure that every word we say, every commitment we make, becomes a deed, and not just words. Because only deeds save. A person in danger needs an ambulance, not words. So, we are doing everything right," Olena Zelenska is convinced.
The vehicles will be delivered to regional children's hospitals and perinatal centers in 16 regions: Vinnytsia, Volyn, Dnipropetrovsk, Zakarpattia, Ivano-Frankivsk, Kyiv, Lviv, Mykolaiv, Odesa, Poltava, Rivne, Sumy, Ternopil, Khmelnytskyi, Cherkasy and Chernivtsi.
"We are obliged to give all care and protection to the children who so trustingly came into our lives in such a difficult time, a time of trials. To save their lives despite all the enemy's attempts to take them away. I think this is the most important mission on earth - to save. I am grateful to everyone involved in it," the President's wife said.