Save A Life Ukraine - CANADA-UKRAINE FOUNDATION

Located in the epicentre of Europe’s latest COVID-19 surge, Ukraine now ranks third in the world for daily COVID-19 mortality. The country continues to record daily highs of new infections and deaths, resulting in adaptive quarantine measures throughout most of Ukraine. The situation in Ukraine has stressed Ukraine’s medical system to the breaking point, particularly in eastern Ukraine, where hospital congestion is the highest in the country at almost 90%. More than 80,000 deaths and more than 3 million infections have been recorded in Ukraine. Of those patients that were hospitalized with COVID-19, 94.2% were found to be unvaccinated.

Ukraine is dealing with persistent challenges while attempting to implement adaptive quarantine and other public-health measures. Widespread vaccine skepticism, fueled by domestic misinformation and foreign disinformation flowing from malign actors such as the Russian Federation, has created numerous challenges for Ukraine’s Ministry of Health. In addition, the Ukrainian government has had to implement stiff criminal penalties for anyone caught with falsified vaccination certification owing to lucrative black market schemes. With less than 20% of its population fully vaccinated, Ukraine has one of the lowest COVID-19 vaccination rates in Europe.

In response to this crisis, the Canada-Ukraine Foundation has launched the “UKRAINE COVID-19 PANDEMIC RESPONSE PROGRAM” to raise $125,000 for targeted assistance in Ukraine.

The UKRAINE COVID-19 PANDEMIC RESPONSE PROGRAM comprises the following three projects:

• CUF is continuing to support and expand the delivery of oxygen therapy to COVID-19 patients through our partners in Ukraine. In addition to the original CUF purchase of 20 Oxygen (O2) concentrators and 3 continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) devices, the expansion now includes the procurement of 17 additional O2 concentrators, 7 CPAP devices, consumable oxygen masks, personal protective equipment, and other operating costs.

• CUF plans to support pandemic relief of the hospital network in the city of Dnipro, Ukraine, by covering the freight costs of a 40-foot shipping container from Denver, USA, to Dnipro. The container will be stocked with donated ICU beds, oxygen-therapy supplies and other critical medical equipment.

• CUF is also planning an expansion of its ongoing COVID-19 pandemic relief to Eastern Ukraine with input from the World Health Organization (WHO) Health Cluster and the United Nations’ Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN OCHA).

The Canada-Ukraine Foundation has allocated $25,000 USD from its reserves to start the campaign and encourages the Ukrainian-Canadian and Ukrainian-American communities to contribute to this critical program, thus providing rapid and effective assistance to those in critical condition.

Organizations, corporations and individuals are welcome to support CUF in this effort with financial or relevant material donations. Contributions may be made online at CUF’s donation page or by contacting the Canada-Ukraine Foundation.

Donations are welcome from worldwide sources. At this time we are able to provide charitable tax receipts for Canadian and US donors.

The Canada-Ukraine Foundation (CUF) announced on October 1, 2021, a donation to help fight the impacts of COVID-19 in Ukraine, particularly hard hit by the fourth wave of the global pandemic. Together with partners League of Ukrainian Canadians, Dnipro-Oshawa Fund at BCU Foundation, and the Ukrainian National Federation, CUF committed a $30,000 CAD donation to support the “Oxygen for Life” Phase 2 program mounted by Kyiv-based civil society organization Initiative E+.

Transparency International has noted an acute shortage of hospital beds in Ukraine, with many COVID-19 patients not receiving required oxygen support, being discharged with low oxygen-saturation levels, and without provision of oxygen concentrators for self-management, due to shortages of equipment.

Kyiv-based Initiative E+, which specializes in humanitarian and charitable work across Ukraine, created the “Oxygen for Life” program at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, aiming to dramatically improve the lives of vulnerable patients recovering from COVID and other respiratory comorbidities. Supported by community volunteers, Initiative E+ operates an oxygen therapy support and exchange program with the goal of addressing critical equipment shortages, and assisting patients recovering from COVID-19. The project is particularly designed to support remote communities and vulnerable populations struggling with limited access to oxygen therapy support.

CUF’s sponsorship will allow Initiative E+ to procure twenty oxygen concentrators, thus boosting its inventory of the life-saving devices by fifty percent.

Direct beneficiaries of this project will include hospitals and rural ambulatory clinics, seniors with difficulty accessing medical care, patients recovering from COVID in remote areas or with respiratory comorbidities, and long-term care residents.

“The monumental effort and delivery of oxygen and life-saving equipment from the Canada-Ukraine Foundation is desperately required,” stated Dr. John M. Quinn V, MD, MPh, PhD, expert in health diplomacy and health security, and Alumnus Scholar at the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies. “The unfortunate vaccine hesitancy and scattered vaccine uptake against COVID-19 evidenced with the well-below-target penetrance in almost all regions make the Delta/Delta+ variants major threats to health and growing risk to a never-ending pandemic crisis in Ukraine. The requirement for life-saving oxygen therapy throughout ICUs, hospitals and clinics can be filled with the stopgap of oxygen concentrator support.”

CUF’s goal is to support, fund and manage humanitarian, economic development, governance, and rule of law projects that focus on Ukraine. Its humanitarian missions support a reinforcement of Ukraine’s medical reform and sustainable medical development. CUF’s medical initiatives favour local projects that provide immediate assistance, benefit the most vulnerable, and will have a lasting impact. Accordingly, all equipment obtained through CUF’s sponsorship will be donated to Ukrainian medical facilities in need of oxygen therapy augmentation, post-pandemic.

“This is a prime example of how the robust Canada-Ukraine relationship, and the strong people-to-people networks between our countries can make a real difference,” said Orest Sklierenko, President and CEO of the Canada-Ukraine Foundation. “We’re proud we can identify worthwhile, lifesaving projects, complete a thorough due diligence efficiently, and deploy resources in time to make a material impact on real people’s lives. This project fits squarely in CUF’s mission and vision as demonstrated for more than 25 years.”

CUF will continue to raise funds to cover the operational expenses of the “Oxygen for Life” project, such as fuel for equipment delivery, oxygen filter replacements, and accountability monitoring. Organizations, corporations and individuals are welcome to support CUF in this effort with financial or relevant material donations. Contributions may be made online at CUF’s donation page for Medical Missions or by contacting the Canada-Ukraine Foundation.

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