Federal Department of Foreign Affairs FDFA

Non-Communicable Diseases Prevention and Health Promotion in Ukraine

Project completed
Children are skipping rope.

As part of the project, activities to promote a healthy lifestyle and to prevent obesity related risks will be undertaken with children. © SDC

Unhealthy lifestyles and a health system that is often not up to scratch means that a higher than average number of people die from noncommunicable diseases in Ukraine in comparison with other countries. An SDC project run over several years seeks to improve this situation.

Country/region	Topic	Period	Budget
Ukraine	Health nothemedefined Medical services	01.10.2013 - 31.05.2019	CHF 3’805’000

The project in brief

Background	Noncommunicable diseases account for 90% of deaths in Ukraine annually – well above the international average. One factor is unhealthy lifestyles with heavy tobacco and alcohol consumption. Another is Ukraine's underdeveloped family medicine system, since it plays an important role in the prevention and early detection of NCDs.
Objectives	Lower the NCD morbidity and mortality rates to improve the health of the Ukrainian population.
Target groups	Primary health care users Workforce in the health sector and state authorities Primary healthcare workforce
Medium-term outcomes	The Ukrainian health ministry adopts measures and enters into partnerships to strengthen preventive healthcare and prevent noncommunicable diseases. Ukrainians receive effective interventions from the primary health care level to prevent cardio-vascular diseases The population, in particular schoolchildren, live more healthy lifestyles. The Ministry of Health and regional authorities have taken advantage of tools to monitor and evaluate the measures on noncommunicable diseases.
Results	Results from previous phases: National NCDs action plan revised Cooperation on noncommunicable diseases established between different areas of expertise at national and regional levels Content for medical training courses in noncommunicable diseases developed and tested Communication strategy on noncommunicable diseases developed Health promotion strategy developed for Ukrainian primary and secondary schools.
Directorate/federal office responsible	SDC
Credit area	Swiss cooperation with Eastern Europe
Project partners	Contract partner United Nations Organization (UNO) World Health Organization
Budget	Current phase Swiss budget CHF 3’805’000 Swiss disbursement to date CHF 3’966’051
Project phases	Phase 1 01.10.2013 - 31.05.2019 (Completed)

Further technical details

Sector according to the OECD Developement Assistance Commitiee categorisation	HEALTH
Sub-Sector according to the OECD Developement Assistance Commitiee categorisation	Medical services
Type of support	Official development assistance (ODA)
Type of collaboration	Bilateral cooperation
Finance type	Aid grant
Aid Type	Mandate without fiduciary fund Project and programme contribution
Tied/untied aid	Untied aid
Project number	7F08746

Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) such as cardiovascular disease, respiratory disease, cancer and diabetes are responsible for about 60 percent of deaths around the world every year. In Ukraine they account for almost 90 percent. The country has one of the highest cardiovascular disease mortality rates in Europe. Some 30 percent of men who die in Ukraine from NDCs are under 60. Factors include tobacco consumption (30 percent of the adult population smoke everyday), unhealthy eating, lack of exercise and alcohol abuse. Underdeveloped family medicine contributes to this situation in Ukraine as it plays an important role in the prevention and early detection of NCDs. The armed conflict in the east of the country has aggravated the problems.

Through the project "Non-Communicable Diseases Prevention and Health Promotion in Ukraine", which was launched in 2015 with the World Health Organization (WHO) and is expected to run until 2022, the SDC is helping reduce morbidity and mortality from NCDs. It hopes to reduce mortality from NCDs by at least 25% by 2020. However, political instability and the armed conflict in Ukraine are a major challenge for the implementation of the project.

Less tobacco and alcohol advertising

To this end, the project provides for the creation of a national action plan to lower the consumption of alcohol and tobacco products through financial incentives, and new laws that restrict the advertising and marketing of tobacco, alcohol and unhealthy food. The project also seeks to strengthen family medicine, primarily with the help of a WHO action plan. Specific measures include education and training for medical staff.

Prevention is also vital to reach the goals: Other projects implemented by the SDC in Ukraine are putting responsible attitudes to addictive substances and stimulants on the curricula of primary and secondary schools in partnership with the Ukrainian authorities and international organisations such as the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the Ukrainian-Swiss "Mother and Child Health Program".

The project runs at national level and in selected pilot regions. In three of these regions, Kyiv, Kharkiv and Dnipropetrovsk, there are a large number of internally displaced persons who have fled the armed conflict in the east of the country and are at increased risk for NCDs.