"We feel that we are not forgotten, and our work is visible. These trainings provide us also with moral support.”
These are the words of Dr Halyna Shyshova from the Donetsk Regional Centre for Disease Control in Ukraine. Dr Shyshova completed various WHO-supported courses during 2023 and 2024 as part of a transformative 3-year EU-funded project implemented by WHO/Europe. A main aim of this initiative is to enhance the immunization-related knowledge and skills of health-care workers.
“My primary objective is twofold; that at least 95% of children are immunized against preventable diseases and, thereby, to contribute to the prevention of cases and outbreaks of diseases like polio, measles and diphtheria,” she says, emphasizing the urgency of vaccinating the population who continue to live in areas impacted by the war in Ukraine, despite the difficult living conditions.
Facing exceptional challenges in her daily work, operating in a region mostly under occupation, and with a front line near the city of Sloviansk that is regularly shelled, Dr Shyshova remains steadfast in her resolve.
Undeterred
Undeterred, Dr Shyshova has dedicated her entire life to promoting the well-being of the people living in the Donetsk oblast (province) by advocating for vaccines.
The most recent training Dr Shyshova attended, for mid-level managers of the national immunization programme, and organized by WHO in Ukraine together with the Ukrainian Public Health Centre, helped participants strengthen their knowledge, acquire new skills, and learn how to conduct peer trainings.
Dr Shyshova is now more equipped to pass on this knowledge to her peers. "All the doctors for whom I conduct trainings are very interested in new knowledge and practical training. We always receive a lot of questions about microplanning, monitoring, organizing a mobile vaccination point, cold chain, injection safety, etc.” Dr Shyshova says.
Ukraine has achieved significant progress in strengthening routine immunization systems within the project’s framework, which spans 5 Eastern Partnership countries in addition to Ukraine and focuses on increasing the uptake of COVID-19 vaccines as well as other vaccines.
Empowering health workers with EU support
The EU funds a wide range of public health activities in Ukraine, from training sessions to translating resources for health workers.
“I truly appreciate the modules and textbooks on immunization translated into Ukrainian. It was extremely helpful to close these gaps in my knowledge. Without them, I could not have studied and broadened my expertise,” Dr Shyshova explains.
As part of the EU project, Dr Shyshova conducted 2 trainings in Sloviansk and one in the city of Kramatorsk, both in Donetsk oblast, for 52 family doctors and nurses.
The fact that trainings in the city of Lyman, also in Donetsk, scheduled in February this year, had to be cancelled, speaks volumes about the security environment Ukraine’s health workers operate in; as does the fact that the locations where Dr Shyshova gives trainings need to have bomb shelters and a clear evacuation plan in case of a rapidly deteriorating security situation.
I had to work and help people
“How did the war begin for me?” she adds. “On the morning of February 24, 2022, I received a call from work and my colleagues asked me where I was. I answered that I was on my way to work. Then they said, ‘If you haven't reached the city yet, go back! The highway is blocked. The war has started.’”
To Dr Shyshova, it came as a shock.
“I hadn't fully recovered from the events of 2014 yet,” she says. “I had just completed repairs at home, fixing the roof. And now it was all happening again. At the beginning of the war, I left the region for a couple of months. Volunteers helped me evacuate. The catalyst for leaving home then was a direct rocket hit at the Kramatorsk railway station in April 2022. Despite it all, I soon returned home because I had to work and help people," recalls Dr Shyshova.
The main goal – saving people’s lives
Reflecting on what’s been achieved, Dr Jarno Habicht, WHO Representative in Ukraine, says that the EU's contribution to Ukraine's health system cannot be overstated.
“With joint efforts, we manage to support both medical workers and patients during a full-scale war,” he says. “Many dedicated doctors, paramedic and nurses – people like Halyna Shyshova – continue to work in extremely difficult and often dangerous conditions. Therefore, it is very important to continue providing medical professionals with everything they need, including technical and consulting support, for the main goal of saving people's lives,” Dr Habicht concludes.