Ukraine will be able to successfully overcome the consequences of the war if it maximizes the synergy of various stakeholders, innovates solutions, takes a cross-sectoral approach, and quickly learns anddisseminates best practices in health promotion. It is important to provide the national medicalcommunity with access to up-to-date scientific literature on topics and issues that have become mostrelevant during the war, which is impossible due to the ban on purchasing books during martial law(CMU Resolution №590).
The Healthy Libraries pilot project in 20 communities confirmed that books can heal and demonstratedthat it is possible to effectively promote health and provide support to citizens through a network oflibraries that are public spaces for all categories of people, including IDPs. During the war, librariescan support the health of community residents both through books, information materials, meetingswith specialists and communication, and by setting up health corners in libraries with sports equipment, massage mats, blood pressure monitors, glucometers, body mass index scales, and more. According to Natalia Kucheryayeva, director of the Dykanka Public Library, “the experience of involving the library in health promotion is very successful and has shown that it is psychologically easier for community members to come to the library to have their blood pressure checked or to determine their body mass index than to visit a doctor's outpatient clinic.
Ihor Kuzin, Deputy Minister of Health of Ukraine, named the key public health risks during the war, which relate, in particular, to the following topics:
According to Ihor Kuzin, the involvement of libraries can have the greatest impact on the prevention of chronic and non-communicable diseases and the providing of primary psychological care. A person's level of awareness of non-communicable diseases and a healthy lifestyle can prevent their occurrence and contribute to early diagnosis. For example, 80% of heart attacks and strokes are fatal, but can be prevented through primary prevention and lifestyle changes. Psychological assistance and identification of the primary signs ofpsychological disorders is now the competence of every citizen of Ukraine. «Libraries should become driversof disease prevention and promotion of a healthy lifestyle. The Ministry supports this initiative.»
International experience demonstrates how this can work: the UK introduced the Book on Prescription program at the national level in 2013 and, as a result, received a powerful effect on the healthcare system: 90% of healthcare professionals estimated that the books helped patients to support themselves and cope with the symptoms of non-communicable diseases on their own, and 81% of respondents believe that the book helped them to better understand their health needs.
Svitlana Kyriy, Tamara Suhenko, Maryna Braha, Ihor Hnatusha
Ihor Hnatusha, Head of the Healthcare Platform of the All-Ukrainian Association of AmalgamatedTerritorial Communities, Head of the Komysh-Zoryanska settlement community, noted that suchsuccessful innovations as the work of libraries in health promotion should definitely be implemented in all communities.
According to Maryna Braha, behavior change communication coordinator of the Ukrainian-Swiss project «Act for Health», the best results are achieved by those communities that combine the efforts of various stakeholders to improve the health of the population: local government, education, health care, culture, and the public sector.
The network of libraries in Ukraine includes 12 thousand. 555 libraries were destroyed or damaged during the war and thousands of books were destroyed as of April 2023, according to Ministry of Culture and Information Policy.
The full broadcast of the event is available here.
The event was implemented within the framework of the Healthy Libraries project, implemented by the Library Country Charitable Foundation with the support of the Ukrainian-Swiss Action for Health Project.
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