FORMATION FOR THE PRINCIPLES OF STATE ASSISTANCE TO CHILDREN, MEDICAL EDUCATION AND SCIENCE DURING THE TIME OF THE UKRAINIAN STATE IN 1918 (HISTORICAL OVERVIEW IN THE CONTEXT OF CURRENT CHALLENGES)

Abstract

Introduction. This review article presents an analysis of the measures taken by the Ukrainian state under Hetman Pavlo Skoropadskyi to establish a state system of medical care for children and to develop medical and pharmaceutical education and science in Ukraine. The purpose of our historical review is to draw attention to the measures taken by the government of the Ukrainian state under Hetman Pavlo Skoropadskyi to establish the state system of children’s health care and to launch Ukrainian medical and pharmaceutical education and science, and to draw certain historical analogies with the present. Results. During the seven and a half months of P. Skoropadsky’s Hetmanate, from 29 April 1918 to 14 December 1918, a real renaissance of Ukrainianism, language, education, including medical, cultural and health care, took place on the territory of the Ukrainian state. On 8 May 1918, for the first time in the history of Ukraine, the Ministry of Public Health and State Welfare was established in order to preserve the health of the population and stop the plagues in the country. At the end of the First World War, there were about one hundred thousand orphans in Ukraine. Thus, the main task of the authorities of the young Ukrainian state was to combat homelessness and reduce the mortality rate of children, especially infants. An important component of the Ministry’s work was the development of the network of various childcare institutions and the training of the necessary number of highly qualified specialists to implement the foundations of state policy in the field of social protection of children. All its activities were aimed at combating infectious diseases, especially the typhus, Spanish flu and cholera epidemics, which were led by the prominent scientist and educator Korchak Chepurkivsky. He also stood at the origin of the foundation of the Kyiv Medical Institute. The Ukrainian government paid great attention to vaccinating the population against infectious diseases. In order to involve the medical community in the development of health care in the Ukrainian state, the government of the country actively cooperated with public medical organizations. Conclusion. For the first time in the history of Ukraine, the regulatory framework for the functioning of the main links of state health management, including maternal and child health care, the principles of undergraduate and postgraduate medical education and the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences has been created. Historical parallels that can be drawn with the present show that these issues are still a priority today.