Health of Ukrainian refugees in Poland

• Since February 2022, numerous people have been displaced from Ukraine due to a large-scale invasion of Ukraine at multiple locations from the Russian Federation. Thousands have fled the country seeking protection in EU countries, the greatest number of Ukrainians had taken refuge in the nearest CEE countries as Poland (1,58 million), Czech republic (504 thousand), and Slovakia (114 thousand).

• According to the Protection Directive agreed among EU Member States on 4 March 2022, Ukrainian refugees can obtain a residence permit in the EU, which grants them access to medical assistance. They should also be affiliated to the public health care system of the host Member State.

• In February 2023, a report from the survey carried out by the Statistics Poland in cooperation with the World Health Organization was published. According to household survey and behavioural insights research, war in Ukraine has created an enormous strain on local and national public services in Poland, in particular, on the health care system.

• An extensive survey (1 800 households) was conducted to explore health care use and access, and the health care needs of Ukrainian refugees in Poland, with the aim of informing health service improvement and future actions.

• The main conclusions are following: The majority of persons in need of health care had problems with sudden illnesses such as cough , diarrhoea and fever (44%) and problems related to chronic illness (40%). Refugees’ needs for dental services were also mentioned frequently (18%). Refugees expressed satisfaction with the level of service they received, particularly when it came to emergency and specialized healthcare, as well as the compassionate demeanour of healthcare providers. The primary challenge that refugees commonly encountered when trying to access healthcare was the information barrier, which encompassed issues such as inadequate information, language difficulties, and cultural barriers. Additionally, one-third of refugees found the cost of services to be too expensive . The barrier that was mentioned most frequently was the prolonged waiting times.

• Read more about Health of Ukrainian refugees in Poland 2022 (report from February 2023) https://stat.gov.pl/.../health-of-refugees-from-ukraine...