The War in Ukraine

Perspectives on Russia's invasion of Ukraine through a global health lens

Gender
Plumes of black smoke rise up into the air behind a car as it passes the Lysychansk Oil Refinery after if was hit by a missile at Lysychansk, in the Luhansk region, Ukraine, on April 16, 2022. REUTERS/Marko Djurica

Leaving Ukraine

by Susan K. Barnett

A story about helping people with disabilities escape the war in Ukraine

Environment
A view of a corner of the kitchen with cheerfully painted blue walls, dishes left on the counter, and white lace curtain fluttering in the wind — abandoned by residents amid the Russian war on Ukraine. The Kyiv region, March 2022.

Confronting an Invisible Enemy in Ukraine

by Amanda McClelland

The insidious march of infectious diseases during war 

Health workers, two male and one female, wear red emergency outfits, stethoscopes, and bullet-proof vests as they pose beside their yellow ambulance at a hospital in Kharkiv.
Governance

War-Proofing Ukraine's Health System

An interview with Ukraine's former Deputy Minister of Health Pavlo Kovtoniuk

A Russian soldier in a camouflage uniform bearing the Russian flag and a cloth face covering stands guard near the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant whose towers stand surrounded by a fog and a barbed wire against a blue sky.
Governance

Russian Roulette at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant

How Russia's militarization of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant threatens human health

Concrete nuclear reactor towers bellowing pillars of white smoke stand against a blue sky. In the foreground a bee flits between bright yellow flowers atop leafy green stems
Environment

Fallout

A photographic view of the fallout from past nuclear incidents for health

Ukrainian paramedics take cover in the woods as air raid sirens go off again following an attack on the Yavoriv military base, outside a hospital in Yavoriv, Ukraine, during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, on March 13, 2022.
Governance

Ukraine: A Turning Point for Attacks on Health

Accountability is overdue for wartime atrocities in Syria, Yemen, Ethiopia, Gaza, Myanmar, and now Ukraine

A close up image of a field of winter wheat growing outside Bashtanka, in the Mykolaiv region of Ukraine, on June 9, 2022
Food

Seeds: An Unlikely Casualty of the War in Ukraine

How history—and future crops—were lost when Russia attacked a scientific warehouse for valuable plants and seeds

A man clears rubble from a psychiatric hospital that was destroyed by Russian forces
Governance

From Aleppo to Mariupol

Attacks on medical facilities in Syria and Ukraine will leave lasting scars

The front hall of the local government office in the village of Nychyporivka, around 100 kilometers Southeast of Kyiv.
Migration

Multigenerational Voices from the Wreckage of War-Torn Ukraine

We should listen carefully to those under attack, and hear what they have to tell us

A Ukrainian scientist holds plant shoots in test tubes in her laboratory in Hlukhiv, Ukraine
Governance

Proving a Negative

There are no bioweapons in Ukraine

A woman fleeing Russia's invasion of Ukraine carries a child at the train station in Zahony, Hungary March 6, 2022.
Migration

Health Care at Hungary's Border

Hungary has opened its arms and its health-care resources to Ukrainians fleeing Russia's war

Life and happiness before the war. Holiday party at dad’s office. Sarajevo, December, 1990.
Migration

Notes from a War-Torn Childhood in Bosnia

"I fear for Ukraine's children"

Refugees who fled from the Russian invasion in Ukraine rest inside a temporary camp at the train station in Przemysl, Poland, March 2, 2022.
Migration

The Fallout for People Forced to Leave Ukraine

The short- and long-term health effects of the Russia-Ukraine war

Service members of the Ukrainian Armed Forces gather near BM-21 "Grad" multiple rocket launchers during tactical military exercises at a shooting range in Kherson, Ukraine, on January 19, 2022
Governance

The Ukraine Crisis, COVID-19, and Global Health

The Russian threat to Ukraine has nothing to do with the pandemic, but the situation has implications for global health

A laboratory worker in blue scrubs holds samples of poultry entrails to test them for bird flu in a laboratory in the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk December 7, 2005.
Governance

Disarming Russia's Bioweapons Disinformation

Protecting Ukraine's laboratory infrastructure is crucial to prevent a health crisis

Two girls stand in Lviv, Ukraine wearing traditional Ukrainian blouses and wrapped in the blue and yellow Ukrainian flag
Migration

Ukrainian Culture as Medicine

Six books and movies to soothe the heartbreak of the war in Ukraine

Russian president Vladimir Putin stands in front of a podium that says "End TB" with a bored expression on his face.
Governance

Will the WHO Sideline Russia Over Ukraine?

Not if Russia withdraws first

An activist of the All-Ukrainian Network of People Living With HIV/AIDS, a non-governmental group, holds an empty package of the drug Aluvia, as she takes part in a rally in front of the Ukrainian cabinet of ministers building in Kyiv, Ukraine, July 1, 2015.
Governance

War Threatens Ukraine's Progress Curbing HIV/AIDS

Russia's invasion is keeping lifesaving medication out of the hands of Ukrainians living with HIV

Women fleeing the Russian invasion of Ukraine, stay outside a tent at a temporary camp in Przemysl, Poland, March 2, 2022
Gender

Periods Don't Stop For Conflict

Addressing women's health in Ukraine and other conflict zones

U.S. Army soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division, deployed to Poland to reassure NATO allies, train at an airbase, near Arlamow Poland, February 23, 2022. REUTERS/Kacper Pempel
Governance

Guns, Germs, and Gases

The invasion of Ukraine darkens the future for global health

https://www.thinkglobalhealth.org/sites/default/files/styles/max_1300x1300_3_2/public/2020-04/jlt-Twigg-CoV-Ukraine-4.6.20-RTS37M7Y-THREE-TWO.jpg?itok=ByV4crDk
Governance

Coronavirus in Ukraine

In heat of pandemic, Ukraine’s American and European partners shouldn’t let their support of one valuable ally grow cold