The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), with the support of the EU, purchased and donated 14 automatic external defibrillators to healthcare facilities in the regions of Ukraine.
According to a UNDP press release, medical facilities in Sumy, Chernihiv, Kamianske (Dnipropetrovsk region), Voznesensk (Mykolaiv region), Nova Vodolaha, Pervomaisk and Lozova (Kharkiv region) received medical equipment.
With the financial support from the European Union, UNDP also provided specialized training to more than a hundred medical workers on using the life-saving devices.
“In response to new challenges, the EU provides the necessary tools to help people survive and recover from injuries. In particular, we want to direct our support to those areas where needs are greatest and increasing daily,” Frederik Coene, Head of Cooperation at the EU Delegation to Ukraine, said.
A defibrillator is a small device that plays an important role in saving the lives of people who have had a heart attack.
The United Nations Recovery and Peacebuilding Programme (UN RPP) is being implemented by four United Nations agencies: the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women), the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO). Eleven international partners support the Programme: the European Union (EU), the European Investment Bank (EIB), the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine, and the governments of Canada, Denmark, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, Poland, Sweden and Switzerland.
The European Union and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Ukraine, together with national partners, officially opened two renovated medical call centers in Kramatorsk, Donetsk region, and Severodonetsk, Luhansk region.
The equipment for the call centre, worth around EUR 17,000 (about UAH 540.000), was purchased with the financial support of the European Union under the UN Recovery and Peacebuilding Programme, the message reads.
The centers are based at Kramatorsk Primary Healthcare Centre No. 1 and Severodonetsk City Multidisciplinary Hospital. They will serve about 180,000 residents of Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
Up to six coordinators work in the call centers and use a specially designed call system, which helps them call back those who could not reach the centre immediately.
“The European Union continues to support the effective functioning of the healthcare system in eastern Ukraine, ensuring that needs of all local residents are addressed. Together with our partners from the UN Recovery and Peacebuilding Programme and the European Investment Bank, we’ve been piloting new approaches to health service delivery, which is crucial in the times of the COVID-19 pandemic, and renovating medical facilities in Donetsk and Luhansk regions,” Martin Schroeder, acting Head of Cooperation at the EU Delegation to Ukraine, said.
The United Nations Economic and Social Council elected Ukraine to the Executive Council of UN Women for 2022-2024, and also re-elected for a three-year term to the Executive Board of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), The United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS), the press service of Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported on Tuesday.
“The election of Ukraine to the governing body of UN Women was a confirmation of our state’s consistent adherence to the strategic course on ensuring equal rights and opportunities for women and men at the national and international levels. As part of the Executive Council, the Ukrainian side will continue to strengthen women’s leadership and promote women’s participation in political processes, in particular in the context of implementation of the Women. Peace. Security,” Ukrainian diplomats report.
It is reported that the last time Ukraine was represented in the Executive Council of UN Women in 2011-2013.
“The main task of the Ukrainian membership in the Executive Board of UNDP, UNFPA, UNOPS will be to improve the efficiency of the operational activities of the UN development system, to provide assistance to member states for economic recovery after the COVID-19 pandemic,” the Foreign Ministry said.
They add that Ukraine is one of the thirty countries on whose territory major projects are being implemented with the support of the UN.
“Our state is especially interested in the UN operational activities being effective and result-oriented, eliminating duplication and avoiding gaps in the interaction of agencies in the host countries,” the message says.
It says that over the next few years, UN agencies in Ukraine will continue to provide assistance to the Ukrainian government in order to overcome the negative consequences in socio-economic sphere amid the spread of the coronavirus.
Other areas of enhanced interaction will be the development of democratic governance, sustainable economic growth, employment, green energy and modern technologies.
“These projects are being implemented within the framework of partnership between the government of Ukraine and the UN for 2018-2022 with a budget of $667 million,” the Foreign Ministry said.
The United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) was established by UN General Assembly Resolution 64/289 on 2 July 2010.
The goal of UN Women is to accelerate the achievement of the UN goals in the field of gender equality and the empowerment of women, in particular by implementing policies, global standards and norms in this area, providing technical and financial assistance to member states in the implementation of these norms, strengthening effective partnerships with civil society and the like.
The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) backs the idea of creating a free economic zone in the east of Ukraine, as new jobs will contribute to poverty reduction, rapid and sustainable economic development, greater resilience and prosperity, Resident Representative of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in Ukraine Dafina Gercheva said.
“We welcome the government’s reintegration initiatives: revitalizing local economies has proven to be very important in restoring the economy and social fabric in conflict-affected countries around the world. The conflict has severely affected Donetsk and Luhansk regions, resulting in bleak economic prospects, job losses, migration, poverty and social exclusion. UNDP stands ready to continue boosting local economy, strengthening social cohesion, and supporting peace building efforts,” Gercheva said in an interview with the Interfax-Ukraine information agency.
She noted that free economic zones have been successfully used as an instrument to galvanize and intensify economies, and the rationale behind this approach is to attract investors and generate employment. “The new jobs will contribute towards poverty reduction, rapid and sustainable economic development, enhanced resilience and increased prosperity. Eventually, such a zone may trigger a structural transformation, which is so much needed to move up the value chain. There are many areas where investment is lacking,” Gercheva said.
Therefore, this initiative would be able to solve this problem and offer new opportunities to local entrepreneurs, local communities, as well as social service providers, who today labour against outdated infrastructure and a lack of financial resources to reach everyone in these regions and meet their needs.
The resident representative stressed that this initiative would be able to solve this problem and offer new opportunities to local entrepreneurs, local communities, as well as social service providers, who today labour against outdated infrastructure and a lack of financial resources to reach everyone in these regions and meet their needs.
At the same time Gercheva noted that the initiative’s implementation is “quite realistic,” but there’s also a need to put in place the preconditions for its implementation, in particular, there is a need for full transparency and accountability when it comes to attraction and allocation of foreign direct or domestic investments. “Public authorities should be able to work effectively on the ground, upholding the rule of law, protecting human rights, ensuring access to justice and information, and addressing the needs of local communities,” she explained.
Gercheva also pointed out the need to restore ties with the population of the territories not controlled by the government of Ukraine.
“I leave the politics of conflict resolution to others, but what I care about – and what UNDP strives for on a daily basis – is to respond to the impact of the conflict: to repair the social fabric, to build forward better and greener, to recover, restore, repair and reconcile. This applies to infrastructure, jobs and the economy, and to people-to-people relations. All of this requires connectivity and cooperation. So we believe that bridges should be built and connections between people should be restored,” she said.
Gercheva emphasized that a long-term solution to peace-building is impossible without ensuring that the government communicates with the people, people keep in touch with each other, and that the systems are interconnected. I mean water supply, environmental protection, healthcare, social protection and so on. I’m convinced that it really is very important to start building bridges and thinking about how we can unite people, so that we can reconcile them as soon as possible and resolve the conflict,” the UNDP resident representative in Ukraine said.
Research and Industrial Center Borschahivka chemical and pharmaceutical plant (Kyiv) has won a tender of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) to supply anti-tuberculosis medicine Rifampicinum using budget funds. According to the contract signed by the plant and the UNDP, the total amount of medicines worth UAH 6 million is to be handed over to the international organization no later than January 2019.
“The victory of the enterprise in the tender confirms that any pharmaceutical manufacturer that is able to provide high-quality products at an affordable price has a chance to win. We have already delivered the first batch of drugs for tuberculosis treatment in the tender,” the press service reported, citing Director General Yulia Zdarevska.
As reported, Borschahivka chemical and pharmaceutical plant in 2017 won the tender of UNDP for the supply of two anti-tuberculosis drugs Rifampicinum and Aethambutolum for UAH 3.6 million.
ANTI-TUBERCULOSIS MEDICINE, BORSCHAHIVKA CHEMICAL PLANT, TENDER, UNDP
The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) will transfer its long-term contracts for medicine procurement to the national procurement agency after its creation. UNDP Coordinator Zafar Yuldashev told Interfax-Ukraine that at present, the international organization has around 20 agreements signed with medicine manufacturers.
“At the stage of the transfer of medicine procurement from international organizations to the respective national agency, we also plan to transfer long-term contracts, but the necessary condition for this transfer is the legislative possibility of signing and conducting procurement under these contracts by the newly established procurement agency,” he said.
The expert said that long-term contracts make it possible to simplify the procurement procedure and allow the manufacturer to plan production of the required quantities of medicines by the approved deadline.
“As a result, the period between the announcement of procurement and the direct delivery of medicines to patients is reduced to a minimum, and these contracts allow providing reasonable prices and saving budget funds, as the manufacturer can more efficiently plan the purchase of raw materials and loading of production facilities,” he said.
Commenting on the opportunities for lower prices for budget procurement of medicines, Yuldashev said that “competition is the key to price reduction and a global trend, including in developed countries, as well as the increase in the share of generic drugs in procurement, which makes it possible to use the allocated funds more efficiently on procurement of medical products.”
He recalled that “UNDP has strict quality criteria and procures only those drugs, the quality of which is undoubted and that meets international criteria.”
“These drugs can be both originate and generic. Thanks to the lower price, generic drugs often allow more treatment to be available for more patients,” he said.
As reported, the UNDP signed long-term contracts with four international manufacturers – Teva Pharmaceuticals (Israel), Pfizer (Netherlands), Novo Nordisk (Denmark) and Sanofi Genzyme (France) – for the supply of 11 drugs, including medicines for rare diseases such as multiple sclerosis, Gaucher’s disease, mucopolysaccharides, cystic fibrosis, other orphan diseases, hemophilia, as well as medicines to stop bleeding.
