First Lady Olena Zelenska met with Dr. Hans Kluge, WHO Regional Director for Europe, and Viktor Liashko, Minister of Health of Ukraine. The parties discussed the results of the audit of the mental health service system resources conducted as part of the work on the All-Ukrainian Mental Health Program.
The President's wife thanked the WHO and Hans Kluge personally for the continuous and stable support provided by the organization to Ukraine since the beginning of the full-scale war, in particular for assistance in the development of the All-Ukrainian Mental Health Program initiated by the First Lady last year.
"We have found a reliable partner in the face of the WHO, but at the same time, I think that Ukraine is a reliable partner for the organization as well," Olena Zelenska said.
She told the WHO Regional Director for Europe about the results of an audit of mental health services resources provided in Ukraine (the audit examined what capacities each ministry has and how they are used, what is missing). The audit, conducted with the support of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), showed that the system "sees" less than 10% of the predicted cases of mental health disorders.
"The critical problem of the system, as revealed during the audit, is the extremely low level of service coverage. This needs to be changed primarily through educational work and teaching people self-help skills that should become part of everyone's everyday life," the President's wife emphasized.
According to her, this is exactly what the communication campaign on the All-Ukrainian Mental Health Program, presented together with the audit of resources last week, is aimed at.
"I hope that the WHO will strengthen our great communication wave with its voice," said Olena Zelenska.