22 March 2022
Children’s Healthcare Australasia stands in solidarity with the people of Ukraine and all its healthcare workers.
The Russian attack on Ukraine is presenting an enormous challenge on the specialised and intensive paediatric hospital care in the country. This invasion is having a profound impact on everyday people and we are particularly concerned about the immediate and lasting impact it will have on the physical and mental health of all people, especially children.
Children and families requiring hospital care are particularly vulnerable in Ukraine while this war continues. The recent bombing of a maternity & children’s hospital in the city of Mariupol, and the threats to paediatric hospitals caring for sick children in other cities is causing enormous hardship and grief.
We strongly condemn the targeted attacks on civilian healthcare workers and health facilities, which is in direct violation of the Geneva Conventions.
We stand in solidarity with our health sector colleagues in Ukraine and we urge our government and the international community to do everything possible to protect the safety and wellbeing of all people affected by this war, especially children.
Supporting Ukraine directly through UNICEF Australia’s Emergency Appeal:
Children’s Healthcare Australia urges our members to consider supporting the work of UNICEF Australia’s Emergency Appeal.
As the conflict escalates, so do the needs of children and families. Hostilities are leading to loss of life and severe destruction of key infrastructure that has left hundreds of thousands of people without safe water or electricity. Children are terrified, in shock, and desperate for safety. They are being forced to seek refuge in subways and shelters, or to flee their homes to find safety either within Ukraine or in neighbouring countries. Hundreds of thousands are on the move – most of them women and children – and many families are becoming separated.
UNICEF is working around the clock, to deploy humanitarian assistance to the hardest-hit areas, while also scaling up our response to meet the urgent needs of children and families crossing into neighbouring countries.
Reaching the most vulnerable is the priority of UNICEF’s wide-ranging response, and the children, families and workers in hospitals(link is external) are a key focus for them. Over the weekend, UNICEF’s first shipment of humanitarian aid(link is external) arrived in Ukraine which included personal protective equipment to protect health workers from COVID-19 as they respond to the critical health needs of children and families, as well as desperately needed medical supplies, including medicine, first aid kits, midwifery kits and surgical equipment, and early childhood and recreational kits. Similarly, on March 1st UNICEF delivered 10 oxygen concentrators to the Okhmadet Children’s Hospital in Kiev. The hospital specialises in treating children suffering from cancer.
By supporting UNICEF Australia’s emergency appeal you will be supporting UNICEF’s emergency response including urgent support for the health sector. UNICEF’s in-country teams are scaling up their health programmes to strengthen essential services, including routine immunizations that children may have missed out on back home to help avoid measles and outbreaks of other preventable diseases, together with nutritional support and urgent health supplies.
How to support the appeal:
You, or your organisation, work team or family can support UNICEF in a number of ways including:
- A direct deposit to UNICEF Australia.
- Account name: Australian Committee for UNICEF Ltd
- BSB: 012 010
- Account: 837541992
- A donation through UNICEF’s dedicated corporate appeal page(link is external).
- A customised fundraiser at https://ukraine.unicef.org.au(link is external). This takes just a few minutes to set up and will enable you to share a link with your employees, supporters, and wider network to raise funds.
