Yuliya van Polanen, executive director of AFEW International
24 February 2023, one year of the war in Ukraine. This year was long and difficult.
Big numbers of people have been displaced. The UN figures record around 8 million Ukrainian refugees across Europe, with around 6 million people internally displaced within Ukraine. More than 18 million people crossed the Ukrainian border since 24 February 2022. Neighbouring countries were also impacted by this war. Many Ukrainians left their homeland without money, documents, and medicines. This caused extreme stress and impacted directly the health situation in many recipient countries.
The AFEW Partnership is preparing for a health crisis in direct and indirect consequence of the war, that affects Ukraine, as well as the entire broader Eastern European and Central Asian region in the coming years. We need to be alerted, we should unite and be ready to meet the urgent health and psycho-social support needs of displaced Ukrainians from underserved populations in their care. We, AFEW International, urge partners to bring the EECA region a priority for international governmental institutions, and private donors and to support Eastern Europe and Central Asia.
Following our goals, together with partners we will work on improving the resilience of communities, addressing the crisis in Ukraine and the implications for the entire region.
