Ukraine and Denmark form strategic alliance for health sector cooperation

Minister of Health of Ukraine Viktor Liashko and Minister of Internal Affairs and Health of Denmark Sophie Lode Jacobsen signed an agreement on strategic sectoral cooperation in health care. The agreement aims to strengthen and develop bilateral cooperation in health care between the countries.

The Ministry of Health reports this.

The signed agreement defines Ukraine and Denmark's common goals, including integrating the Ukrainian medical system into European Union standards, developing horizontal cooperation between hospitals in the countries, fighting antimicrobial resistance, and strengthening Ukraine's health care system.

It is also aimed at identifying common areas of interaction between the countries in the following areas:

– mental health – creating a more sustainable mental health system, taking into account the experience of Denmark. Mental health services, including child psychiatry and psychology, support and rehabilitation of veterans, will be integrated at all levels of the health care system. This will allow the creation of a holistic, sustainable system where mental health is an integral part of general medical care, with an emphasis on prevention and support for the most vulnerable groups of the population.

– pharmaceutical sector –creating a state control body, a central executive body with a special status, which implements the state policy in the field of creation, market admission, quality control, safety, and efficacy of medicinal products. An important area of ​​work is unifying all existing bodies into one institution. This body will perform functions similar to those performed by the European Medicines Agency (EMA), ensuring harmonization with European standards and a unified approach to registering and admitting medicinal products to the Ukrainian market, inspections, and pharmacovigilance.

– epidemiological surveillance and AMP – improve the capacity of national laboratories and healthcare institutions to collect, analyze, and report on AMR data by EU standards. This is also a prerequisite for Ukraine's participation in pan-European AMR surveillance networks, such as the European Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance Network (EARS-Net) and the European Antimicrobial Resistance Gene Surveillance Network (EURGen-Net).

Also, during the Ukrainian delegation's visit to Denmark, a memorandum of understanding was concluded between the State Service of Ukraine for Medicines and Drug Control and the Medicines Agency of the Kingdom of Denmark.

The minister of health emphasized that Denmark has been and is a reliable partner for Ukraine. Since the beginning of the war, it has been one of the most active countries in assisting the regions of Ukraine and citizens who were particularly affected by the war. This includes humanitarian aid, the purchase of medical equipment, the country's participation in the reconstruction of hospitals, and a clear position on the international stage.

In addition, since the first months of the war, Denmark has been actively accepting Ukrainian victims for treatment and rehabilitation under the MEDEVAC program.