New Project to Strengthen Ukraine’s Rehabilitation System

Ukraine’s rehabilitation system is under enormous pressure. Due to the war, around 250,000 Ukrainian patients require high-quality rehabilitation care every year. Therefore, the further development of the rehabilitation system is of great importance. TRUE will contribute to building a people-centered and sustainable rehabilitation system based on a capable network of healthcare facilities. The project will support the implementation of international best practices and the development of national expertise – so that Ukrainians can receive high-quality rehabilitation in their local hospitals and return to active participation in society.

To achieve this, the project will focus both on improving legislation, regulatory frameworks and standards in the field of rehabilitation, and on strengthening rehabilitation services from hospital through to local level. In particular, TRUE will strengthen capacities of rehabilitation professionals – by modernising higher education in this field, enhancing specialists’ qualifications through continuing professional development, training courses, and experience exchange. In addition, the project will support healthcare facilities with rehabilitation equipment and assistive devices, promote reforms for a barrier-free society and facilitate post-trauma reintegration of children and adults into schools and workplaces.

The project was officially launched today in Kyiv by the Swiss Ambassador Jacques Gerber, Federal Council Delegate for Ukraine and Viktor Liashko, the Minister of Health of Ukraine. “Switzerland is supporting Ukraine not only in addressing the consequences of the war but also in building a resilient system that can help people to return to a normal life. Rehabilitation is about dignity, recovery, and having faith in the future. We are proud that our joint efforts are thus contributing to sustainable systemic change,” said Jacques Gerber, Federal Council Delegate for Ukraine.

“Together with our partners, we are developing a network that will provide Ukrainians with high-quality, accessible, and free rehabilitation care”, said the Minister of Health of Ukraine Viktor Liashko.

Long-standing experience in Ukraine

Swiss TPH has been active in Ukraine for over 25 years, starting with projects in maternal and child health to medical education development and strengthening the public health system. “Swiss TPH collaborates with national, international and humanitarian partners to provide evidence-informed approaches that foster greater system coherence,” said Helen Prytherch, project leader of TRUE and Head of the Systems Strengthening and Health Promotion unit at Swiss TPH. The new “Trauma Rehabilitation for Ukraine” (TRUE) project of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) has a volume of close to CHF 9 million over four years. TRUE is implemented by a consortium of Swiss TPH and the charitable foundation “Patients of Ukraine”, in partnership with the charitable foundation Protez Hub, the Ukrainian Association of Physical Therapists and the Ukrainian Society of Speech and Language Therapy. Swiss TPH will be working with the Universities of Applied Sciences in Zürich and Bern, as well as the rehabilitation centre CRR Sion to combine Swiss expertise in rehabilitation.