Bilateral cooperation in the field of healthcare is one of the priorities for France

Bilateral cooperation with Ukraine in the field of healthcare is one of the priorities of France. The main areas of joint work are set out in the Declaration on cooperation in the field of health and prevention between the Ministries of Health of Ukraine and France. This was stated by Benjamin Roehrig, first adviser to the Embassy of the French Republic in Ukraine, during a meeting with the Minister of Health of Ukraine Viktor Liashko.

“First of all, I want to thank France and the people, private businesses, for their help in the confrontation with the russian aggressor. It is thanks to the support of international partners that we manage to give a worthy rebuff to the enemy, given the colossal scale of destruction and damage caused. I hope very much for the continuation of cooperation and even its strengthening, in particular, regarding the direction of reconstruction. Already, 177 objects of healthcare institutions have been completely destroyed, and 1,433 have been partially destroyed. The restoration of medical infrastructure requires a significant resource, both financial and human. Therefore, it is very important for us to have a dialogue with other countries and launch joint projects,” said Minister of Health Viktor Liashko. 

In April of this year in Lviv, the Ministers of Health of Ukraine and France signed a Declaration on cooperation in the field of health and prevention between the Ministries, which outlines the main areas of cooperation. This is the so-called roadmap, which will implement a number of projects related to the strategic tasks of developing the healthcare system of Ukraine, technical expertise and exchange of experience.

During the meeting, they also discussed the possibility of implementing a project to restore hospitals on a modular basis. This will help restore destroyed hospitals much faster and start providing medical care. Previously, what is meant here is 10 modular hospitals at a total cost of EUR 30 million, which are planned to be built at the expense of a government loan from the French government.

The meeting was also attended by representatives of Sanofi in Ukraine. Since the beginning of the full-scale war, the company has provided medicines at a total cost of about EUR 25 million for Ukrainian patients free of charge – as humanitarian aid. We are talking about 37 million doses of medicines. The company also announced the next deliveries of medicines at a total cost of approximately EUR 15 million. 

In addition, joint active work is being carried out to improve the quality of treatment of patients with diabetes, expand access to innovative medicines for people with rare diseases and develop vaccination opportunities directly in pharmacies, expert European integration initiatives of the Ministry in the pharmaceutical industry.