UIC Center for Global Health issues statement in support of Ukraine
The Center for Global Health in the University of Illinois College of Medicine, with active ongoing collaborations with health partners in Kyiv and Lviv, Ukraine, strongly condemns the war being waged by Russian military forces in the sovereign state of Ukraine. Casualties among innocent civilians, including children and elderly, increase every day. More than one million Ukrainians have become refugees. Persons with serious health conditions are adversely affected by lack of medications and medical supplies, limited ability to travel to hospitals, and lack of adequate nutrition. Healthcare providers and hospital staff remain in their hospitals to treat the patients in shelters, while bombs continue to hit their cities. We join the international community in condemning the Russian government’s aggression and in support of the Ukrainian government and people. Additionally, we urge that: a) safe corridors can be established for patients and providers to travel to hospitals; b) humanitarian organizations be allowed to ship medical supplies; c) patients whose care cannot be completed in Ukraine at this time be allowed to travel to foreign countries offering to host them.