U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine William B. Taylor and IRD Country Director Oksana Mikitenko delivering essential commodities to Mayekeva Hospital

U.S. Ambassador Visits IRD Humanitarian Assistance Projects in Eastern Ukraine
Ambassador William B. Taylor Cuts the Ribbon at the Makeyevka hospital, one of the recipients of Department of State (DOS)/IRD medical commodities in Donetsk

Makeyevka, Ukraine — August 8, 2006 — Today, U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine William B. Taylor cut the red ribbon for the official ceremony to provide medical supplies and hospital beds to the Makeyevka Municipal Hospital #7. IRD has been assisting this hospital and other medical facilities in the region since 2005 as part of the IRD program in Ukraine funded by DOS.

“Ambassador Taylor’s support of continuing humanitarian assistance to the region to improve primary health care access is so valuable to the people of the Ukraine,” said IRD Country Director Oksana Mikitenko, who spoke at the ceremony. “IRD is proud to work hand-in-hand with both the U.S. Department of State and the Donetsk oblast and local government to implement this project and other like it in other regions of Ukraine.”

The Makeyevka Hospital, policlinic and maternity center provide medical services to over 30,000 patients a year. Hospital equipment and supplies, however, are outdated and insufficient; the hospital is in need of these essential commodities to continue providing primary health care services.

Mr. Alexander Maltsev, Mayor of Makeyevka, opened the ceremony. The ambassador was joined in celebration by Mr. Maltsev and other community leaders, administrators and medical staff from the Makeyevka hospital, administrators and medical staff from other hospitals throughout the region, IRD staff and local media.

After the ceremony, Ambassador Taylor and Ms. Mikitenko were given a full tour of the hospital’s policlinic surgery department and maternity center by Dr. Olga Khalina, Head Physician, and Elena Teryayeva, Head of the Makeyevka Municipal Health Department. Dr. Khalina discussed with the Ambassador and Ms. Mikitenko both the medical services the hospital can now provide as well as the commodity needs to be addressed by the program. In accordance with the local tradition, the hospital staff members and local residents greeted the ambassador with “bread and salt.”

The Ambassador also had an opportunity to see the photo exhibit “Look Into the Eyes,” displayed in the therapeutic and neurological ward of the hospital. The exhibition was organized through the USAID-funded project “Reducing Stigma and Discrimination Associated with HIV/AIDS,” implemented by IRD since 2002.

IRD has been working in the Donetsk and Lugansk oblasts since August 2005, and so far has provided more than $10 million worth of commodities to both regions, reaching almost 130,000 people. These commodities have been distributed through IRD to local NGOs, orphanages, retirement homes, extended families, and other vulnerable people of the region. Thirty seven other medical facilities such as Makeyevka Municipal #7 have also been targeted for assistance in both the Donetsk and Lugansk regions.

“It’s the cooperation between the U.S., the local government and people of Ukraine that make IRD assistance projects such as providing essential medical commodities to this hospital possible,” Mikitenko added. “We’re extraordinarily grateful to all of them for the assistance.”

IRD was founded in 1998 as a charitable, non-profit, non-governmental organization dedicated to reducing the suffering of the world’s most vulnerable groups and providing tools and resources needed to increase their self-sufficiency.

# # #