June 20 is World Refugee Day

This international day, established by the United Nations, helps to focus the attention of world authorities on the plight of those fleeing conflict or persecution. World Refugee Day was first celebrated on June 20, 2001, commemorating the 50th anniversary of the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees.

In recent years, this problem has directly affected the Ukrainian people. After the start of Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine in February 2022, Ukrainians began to leave their homes  in search of safe haven abroad. According to sociologists, since February 24, 2022, 8.6 million Ukrainians have left for different countries of the world and have not returned.

There is one more category of Ukrainians who lost their homes and were forced to leave their native places of residence — internally displaced persons. According to the latest estimate of the UN International Organization for Migration, about 8 million citizens of Ukraine are considered to be such. And a significant part of them found refuge precisely in Odessa and Odesa region.

From the very beginning of the full-scale invasion, Odesa National Medical University has been helping those who, fleeing from enemy fire, found themselves in our city. According to statistics, most of them are elderly people, women and children. Each of them needs not only material help, but also mental help. After all, together with property, home and peaceful life, they lost their mental health. Therefore, in the first half of 2022, the center for medical and psychological care of Odesa National Medical University was founded. The mobile team, which includes psychiatrists and medical psychologists from the departments of psychiatry, narcology, medical psychology and psychotherapy, provides the necessary specialized medical care and conducts psychological counseling free of charge.

For more effective assistance to fellow citizens, students of higher education and teachers of ONMedU are constantly expanding their knowledge. Many of them are trained under the mhGAP program initiated by the World Health Organization, the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, the International Medical Corps and the National Health Service of Ukraine. In particular, at the end of last year, the mhGAP online course “Support and treatment of adults and children with mental disorders at the primary level of medical care” and free face-to-face training from WHO and partners were launched. The training for mhGAP TOT trainers “Program of actions to overcome gaps in the field of mental health care” was completed and the teachers of the department of psychiatry, narcology, medical psychology and psychotherapy of Odesa National Medical University received certificates. And now, as part of the implementation of the program to support the mental health of the Ukrainian nation “How are you?”, which was initiated by the first lady of Ukraine Olena Zelenska, they conduct and organize events aimed at supporting internally displaced persons, including children, who are currently are under the guardianship of the state. Thus, representatives of the student scientific society of the Department of Psychiatry, Narcology, Medical Psychology, and Psychotherapy, together with teachers, regularly visit the children’s department of the Children’s Hospital , where they not only communicate with small patients, but also arrange real holidays for them with gifts, sweets and entertaining games, so that to bring at least a little joy and peace to the little lives that were crippled by the war.

In addition, representatives of the institution participate in various actions from volunteer organizations. Thus, on June 1, on Children’s Protection Day, the community of large families “Dream for Life” united 18 families with 47 children from among internally displaced persons, whose parents in the ranks of the Armed Forces gave their lives for the independence of Ukraine. Students of higher education of ONMedU, as always, came not only with sweets, but also with entertainers, contests, dances and games.

And this is a small part of the difficult work that the students and teachers of Odesa National Medical University put into practice, providing assistance to those who lost their loved ones, their homes and their health due to the war.