Ukraine and Belgium strengthen cooperation in healthcare
The Ministry of Health of Ukraine and the Federal Public Service for Health, Food Safety and the Environment of the Kingdom of Belgium have signed a technical agreement. The agreement's purpose is to implement the Agreement on Security Cooperation and Long-Term Support between Ukraine and the Kingdom of Belgium, signed in May 2024 by President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Prime Minister of Belgium Alexander De Kroo.
The technical agreement was signed by the Minister of Health of Ukraine Viktor Liashko, who was on a working visit to Belgium as part of the Ukrainian delegation to the EU-Ukraine Association Council, and the Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Social Affairs and Health of the Kingdom of Belgium Frank Vandenbroucke.
“Another security cooperation agreement was signed, this time with the Kingdom of Belgium. It is aimed at strengthening the Ukrainian healthcare system, which continues to operate under difficult military conditions, and helping those who have suffered the most. It is a concrete step towards recovery through support for medical infrastructure, access to treatment, rehabilitation, and care for the most vulnerable. The partnership with Belgium is a signal that Europe stands with us both in times of challenge and in our quest for sustainable and effective recovery.”
The agreement is aimed at protecting human life and health, as well as strengthening the public health system in Ukraine, which has faced significant challenges as a result of the armed aggression of the Russian Federation. The document is intended to help the country overcome the negative effects of the war in the healthcare sector and support the population's well-being.
The Technical Agreement provides for broad cooperation between Ukraine and the Kingdom of Belgium in several strategically important areas. These include technical support for the Ukrainian healthcare system, restoration of the destroyed medical infrastructure, and identification of its further development and sustainability sources. Particular attention will be paid to helping the most vulnerable categories of the population, providing humanitarian medical care, implementing modern approaches to treatment and rehabilitation, as well as medical evacuation (MEDEVAC) to treat Ukrainians affected by the war in Belgium.
The agreement also envisages strengthening cooperation in the field of public health, expanding horizontal partnerships between medical institutions - international medical partnerships, developing digital and technological solutions in the field of medicine, improving the quality of medical and rehabilitation services, as well as mental health services.
“I would also like to emphasise our desire to develop an international medical partnership with Belgium as part of a large initiative launched during the Third Summit of First Ladies and Gentlemen. At that time, 25 Ukrainian medical institutions found their ‘brothers’ in different parts of the world: from Poland to Canada. Today, we have 62 memoranda with 21 countries. This is a format of deep hospital-to-hospital cooperation that allows Ukrainian specialists to adopt best practices, undergo training in European clinics and improve the quality of medical care together with foreign colleagues. At the same time, our doctors have a unique experience of working in wartime, and they also have something to share with their European partners. We are sincerely interested in expanding this initiative and deepening our existing ties, so that international medical partnerships become a sustainable tool for the quality development of Ukrainian medicine.”
To achieve the above objectives, the parties agreed to exchange information and experience, conduct joint expert visits, strengthen the professional capacity of medical staff, participate in conferences and other events in Belgium and Ukraine, and other forms of cooperation that may be agreed upon in the course of the project.
During the meeting, the minister thanked for the assistance provided by Belgium to Ukraine since the beginning of the full-scale war with Russia. This includes more than 52 tonnes of medical humanitarian aid worth over UAH 36 million, including medicines, equipment, and generators for medical institutions. As part of the programme of medical evacuation of Ukrainians for rehabilitation abroad, Belgium has received 35 patients, and today, the ministers agreed to significantly expand this programme.
Last year, the Ministry of Health of Ukraine signed a memorandum of cooperation with the Belgian state development agency Enabel. As part of the cooperation, it is planned to launch two reference centres for maxillofacial reconstructive surgery in Kyiv and Lviv to strengthen the capacity of our healthcare system to provide appropriate medical care to people, especially those who have been injured and wounded as a result of the war.