Students of Odessa National Medical University undergo intensive training within the framework of the Swedish project “Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights of Youth in War and Post-War Times”

Odessa National Medical University is implementing a joint Ukrainian-Swedish project aimed at training qualified specialists for consulting youth on issues of sexual and reproductive health and rights.

Recently, project participants took part in trainings conducted by Professor Iryna Mogilevkina (Uppsala, Sweden). On the part of Odessa National Medical University, the trainings were provided by the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, and the organizational process was coordinated by Associate Professor Kateryna Nitochko. The trainings were dedicated to the basics of sexual and reproductive health, prevention of sexually transmitted infections (STIs), and key approaches to consulting  youth.

The training program was rich and interactive. The participants expanded their knowledge of the basics of sexual and reproductive health, the concepts of “sex and sexual relations, gender and sex”, deepened their understanding of the causes, transmission routes and methods of STI prevention, got acquainted with evidence-based methods of counseling youth, learned communication skills necessary for effective work with adolescents and young people.

The most active project participants who completed a specialized online course at Dalarna University (Sweden) in 2024 were involved in the training: higher education students of the medical and dentistry faculties Yevhen Glushchenko, Anastasia Perchyk, Serhiy Chubrik, Kyrylo Pysmenny, Veronika Prykhodko, Valeria Ukrainets, Lyubov Makarenko, Yulia Belova, Alisa Shevchenko, Amina Obukhovska, obstetrician-gynecologist intern Yelyzaveta Nesterenko, psychiatrist intern Oleksandr Panchuk.

In addition to the educational part, the training participants also took part in a focus group discussion on the sexual and reproductive health of youth. This format allowed the students to share their own vision of key issues, discuss the challenges faced by young people, and jointly develop ideas for improving access to information and medical services. The lively discussions demonstrated the high level of interest of the project participants and their willingness to take an active part in shaping a culture of health awareness among young people in Ukraine.

Today, ONMedU students who are participants in the project are not only deepening their professional knowledge, but also preparing to become full-fledged trainers-consultants who will be able to teach their peers and work with young people who need professional consultations on sexual and reproductive health.

The project is implemented with the support of the Swedish Institute_Funded by Swedish Institute.