The World Health Organization (WHO) is improving the response to sexual and gender-based violence in Ukraine by enhancing the ability of healthcare providers and institutions to offer specialised services for survivors.
More than 60 doctors, nurses, and health facility managers from Odesa, Dnipropetrovsk, and Kyiv were trained by WHO in Ukraine with financing from the Government of Canada and support from the Ministry of Health and civil society organisations.
Gender Based Violence in Ukraine
As a pervasive violation of human rights with public health implications, GBV must be addressed.
Estimates show that 18% of women and girls between the ages of 15 and 49 have suffered intimate partner abuse, and that 2 out of 3 Ukrainian women have encountered some form of physical, psychological, or sexual assault at some point in their lives.
Sexual and gender-based violence, especially sexual violence related to the crisis in Ukraine, have grown since Russia’s incursion. However, the vast majority of incidents go unreported. Among other factors, the fear of retaliation or reprisal may prevent victims from coming forward.
In times of war, rape, forced pregnancy, human trafficking, and other sexual crimes become a control and humiliation method for the victims, as well as a tool for the moral deterioration of the enemy. For women and girls, it becomes a mental scar that shapes their personality and rehabilitation from the battle.
Ukraine has a shortage of clinics that treat victims of rape, and this problem is exacerbated by the fact that many women put their children or other loved ones ahead of their own health and safety.
Therefore, it is crucial to continue analysing how different women experience Gender-Based Violence during the conflict, especially from the perspectives of the women who have been directly impacted.
According to Yefimenko Olena Volodymyrivna, Director of the Health Department of the Kyiv Oblast State Administration, “now more than 90% of women who have experienced violence do not inform the police.” However, if they experience any health issues as a direct result of the assault, they will seek treatment.
Therefore, it is crucial that medical professionals have the training to recognise the symptoms of violence and respond appropriately. Special types of workshops are essential to the development of a nationwide network of health care facilities dedicated to supporting survivors.
The two-day training at WHO
World Health Organization guidelines and national legislation on sexual and gender-based violence, gave medical professionals the tools they needed to recognise the warning signs of abuse, provide effective clinical care and psychosocial support, and refer patients to the appropriate social and legal services they needed.
Dr. Jarno Habicht, WHO Representative in Ukraine, explains that “the health sector plays a vital role in responding to gender-based violence,” which includes physical, sexual, and emotional assault and can have major effects for physical, psychological, and reproductive health.
He also noted that “after the Russian Federation’s invasion of Ukraine in February, there is an increased exposure of women and other population groups to sexual and gender-based violence,” underscoring the significance of measures to both prevent and respond to such abuse.
The World Health Organization has stated its intention to assist the Ukrainian government in combating gender-based violence and providing high-quality, survivor-centered care to victims.
Doctors are patients’ lone ally
The Istanbul Convention establishes minimum requirements for the prevention, protection, and prosecution of violence against women and domestic abuse and was approved by Ukraine in June of 2022.
With the help of the World Health Organization, the Ukrainian government has pledged to improve the country’s existing health sector response and support structures for victims of violence.
Svitlana Vedmid, a family doctor and medical director in the Dnipro region and a trainee, said, “As family doctors, we must recognise that working with gender-based violence survivors is our obligation and part of our daily work.”
“Family doctors are generally the first point of contact for persons experiencing violence, and they are also the primary conduit to additional treatments like mental health services. A person’s doctor can be their only safety net in the event of an emergency.”
According to Dr. Tetyana Volkovich, a family physician in the Pavlograd, Dnipropetrovsk region, “empathy” is what drives her to help victims of sexual and domestic violence. “A physician’s care for a patient should be motivated by compassion.
And now, with this training under our belts, we have the skills and expertise to do it. We used to report incidents of violence to management, but now we have our own plan for responding to these situations and we know how many mobile teams and shelters there are in our community.
World Health Organization (WHO) continues to strengthen Ukraine’s health sector response to sexual and gender-based violence to ensure lifesaving care for women, girls, and other at-risk groups, including people with disabilities, the LGBTQI+ community, and displaced persons, as recommended in the World Health Assembly 67.15 Resolution and the Strategy on women’s health and well-being in the WHO European Region.
As part of ongoing humanitarian response operations, WHO proposes to ramp up trainings for health care personnel in 8 regions together with the Ministry of Health and civil society partners.
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