As the conflict in Ukraine gives no sign of ceasing, CUAMM’s commitment continues in the country with a particular focus on logistics support to the health system aiming at ensuring an inclusive, integrated, and multisectoral humanitarian response through equitable access to basic, essential, and life-saving services.
Cuamm is ready to distribute medical equipment kits to healthcare facilities in need across the country. Yet, the distribution will prioritize border areas, namely Kharkiv, Donetsk, Dnipro, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson, which are also the most affected and damaged by the fighting. The activity is part of the AICS RISE project funded by the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation and implemented in collaboration with Caritas Italiana, Caritas Drohobych Sambir and Volonterskiy ruh Bukovyny (VRB).
The capacity and composition of the stock have been designed following consultations with local hospitals, health authorities, and based on the WHO Health Request Planning and Response Tool. The kits are intended to respond to basic emergency situations and include equipment for health facilities such as 5 Trauma Kit, 5 Airway, Breathing and Circulation (ABC) Kit ND, 9 sets of Surgical kits plus 120 Emergency Bags to be distrbuted to both health facility and ambulances and materials for patients’ use as 80 ABC Adult Kit and 20 ABC Pediatric Kit that will benefit an overall number of 400 adults and 100 children.
The activity is in line with Strategic Objective 113 of the HRP (Ukraine Humanitarian Response Plan) 2023 and Sectoral Objective 114 of the health cluster. It also aligns with the cluster’s standard activity: “Procure, pre-position, and distribute essential medicines, medical equipment, and medical commodities to health facilities.”
Within the framework of this project, considering the extreme vulnerability of the context, the activity allows for the consolidation of Rapid Response Mechanism (RRM) established and tested on various occasions, including the rapid response to the bombings in Chernihiv and Pokrovsk. Additionally, it ensures continued timely responses to the urgent needs of the population. The activity will be implemented in close coordination with the health cluster to avoid duplication of efforts, centralize decision-making mechanisms, and address unmet urgent needs and in collaboration with local partners.
Doctors with Africa CUAMM has been working in Ukraine since March 2022, providing multisectoral responses to the urgent needs of the most vulnerable populations affected by the Ukrainian conflict. Since the onset of the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine, CUAMM has adopted a flexible, multisectoral approach to address the multidimensional needs of war victims. In close collaboration with local authorities and civil society organizations, CUAMM has developed an intervention strategy aimed at supporting and integrating the socio-healthcare system in conflict-affected countries, ensuring access to essential and life-saving services for the most vulnerable groups.
Active from the outset of the humanitarian crisis in the Ternopil and Chernivtsi regions in western Ukraine, CUAMM has reached over 40,594 people and supported more than 29 healthcare facilities with medicines, consumables, biomedical equipment, and logistical support materials ensuring the continuity of life-saving services and contributing to reducing morbidity and mortality among war victims in the areas targeted.
