News Feed

Health minister: Heart attacks, strokes becoming more common at earlier age in Ukraine

1 min read
Health minister: Heart attacks, strokes becoming more common at earlier age in Ukraine
Ukraine's Health Minister Viktor Liashko at the Contact Center of the Cabinet of Ministers in Kyiv on Aug. 17, 2023. (Ukrinform/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Heart attacks and strokes are increasingly affecting Ukrainians at an earlier age than usual, Ukrinform reported on Oct. 20, citing the country's Health Minister Viktor Liashko.

The minister linked this development to the COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing full-scale war with Russia, which had a negative effect on early detection and screening of serious diseases.

"Prevention has taken a back seat. We estimate that this will result in complex diseases being detected at advanced stages when there is already a need for long-term and expensive treatment," Liashko said at the All-Ukrainian Congress of Cardiovascular Surgeons in Kyiv.

Almost 450,000 people in Ukraine die every year due to cardiovascular diseases, according to the country's health authorities. This mostly concerns people of working age.

One of the main reasons is the indifferent attitude to lifestyle, often including smoking and alcohol consumption, which is now reinforced by the war, Natalia Ivanchenko, the general director of the Lviv Regional Center for Disease Control and Prevention, explained.

‘Uncertainty and despair’: War taking heavy toll on mental health of Ukrainians
Viktoriia Borodai can not recall the last time she experienced “real joy.” She has lived in “uncertainty and despair” ever since Russia’s all-out war forced her to flee Kramatorsk, her hometown in Donetsk Oblast, last March. Seeking shelter in different towns across Ukraine and watching how Russia…
Article image
Avatar
Martin Fornusek

Senior News Editor

Martin Fornusek is a news editor at the Kyiv Independent. He has previously worked as a news content editor at the media company Newsmatics and is a contributor to Euromaidan Press. He was also volunteering as an editor and translator at the Czech-language version of Ukraïner. Martin studied at Masaryk University in Brno, Czechia, holding a bachelor's degree in security studies and history and a master's degree in conflict and democracy studies.

Read more
News Feed
Video

Since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, war has become a daily reality for thousands of Ukrainian children. Some Ukrainian military units, such as the Azov Brigade, offer boot camps for teenagers to teach them the basics of self-defense, first aid, dry firing, and other survival skills — helping them prepare for both the realities of today and the uncertainties of the future.

Show More