Ukraine is already battered by the war caused by the Russian invasion. And now doctors fear a surge in not just COVID-19 cases but other infectious diseases like polio, cholera and measles.
Kate White, an emergency program manager for Doctors Without Borders, told DailyExpertNews that Ukraine already had low vaccination rates against those diseases.
“In terms of what we call vaccine-preventable diseases, the status in Ukraine was that the population was not vaccinated to the extent that you would get herd immunity like in many other European countries or in the US,” White said.
She added that the additional pressure on Ukraine’s health care system as a result of the war will further lead to a massive drop in the number of routine vaccinations.
Some threats – such as the spread of Covid-19 – are immediate as people huddle in basements, subway stations and temporary shelters to protect themselves from bombing. These places lack good access to clean water and sanitation, which doctors say could lead to an increase in diarrheal diseases.
“I am very concerned about Ukraine. First and foremost, that this could lead to a long-term conflict that will completely destroy the health system,” Lucica Ditiu, executive director of the Stop TB Partnership in Geneva, told Nature.
The Russian forces are concentrating their firepower in Mariupol, where conditions White said are “unbearable” and “just hell”. “Ukraine was the last country in Europe to have a cholera outbreak in 2011, which was in Mariupol,” she said.
The Humans Right Watch (HRW) recently said in a report that Mariupol has been without access to running water, electricity or heat since March 2, when Russian forces surrounded it. The city, with a population of half a million, sits at the mouth of the Kalmius River, which has dangerously high levels of pollution, according to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).
The water treatment plants here work on electricity, which is closed.
The members of Doctors Without Borders collect rainwater and snow to provide the residents of the city with clean water.
The shelling of hospitals has made the situation grim as the availability of medical supplies has been severely affected. Pharmacies are also empty or have to close and people with chronic diseases no longer have access to their medicines.