1733P - Two wars at time: Fight against cancer during war time - experience of Ukraine

Background

On 24th of February 2022 reality in Ukraine changed. Ukraine became a victim of unfair attack of the neighbouring county. It influenced civilian population hugely, including the most vulnerable - children, elderly and patients. Since then, cancer patients became fighters of two fights - malignant disease and external aggressor. After more than a year of this reality Ukrainian oncologists would like to remind international society that the problem is not solved, and Ukrainians desperately need support.

Methods

It is generalized description of situation in the sphere of oncology in Ukraine since 24th of February 2022.

Results

According to Ukraine's Minister of Health, Victor Lyashko, during the first year of the war in Ukraine 1218 hospitals were damaged, 540 - partially destroyed and 173 destroyed completely. Among them - oncological hospitals. More than a million (∼1.2) Ukrainians currently stay on temporary occupied territories of the country and do not have access to qualified medical care. Around 7 million people had to move to safer areas of the country to stay safe and thousands of cancer patients had to move abroad for further treatment. It influenced the oncological landscape significantly. Oncological centers currently have to deal with 70% more patients than before the war. Moreover, the quantity of advanced stage disease has risen dramatically because a lot of people just couldn’t get medical help in time. Therefore, it caused bigger pressure on the medical system, requiring even more resources when they are so limited. At the same time, all clinical trials were put on pause leaving patients with advanced and rare diseases with no options for further treatment. Luckily, international society is extremely friendly to Ukraine providing Ukrainians with shelters and supplies, both material and intellectual. It helped and is helping a lot. But unfortunately, war is not over, and help is still needed.

Conclusions

The aim of the work is to show how things were going during this year of war and how they are actually going now for word to realize that even during the hardest time there is a place for high quality medical care. That only became possible thanks to huge support of international society, but there is still a lot to do to rebuild and improve reality that was destroyed on 24th of February.

Clinical trial identification

Editorial acknowledgement

Legal entity responsible for the study

The authors.

Funding

Has not received any funding.

Disclosure

All authors have declared no conflicts of interest.