The Ministry of Health of Ukraine has been designated as the coordinating agency for the creation, development and functioning of a unified comprehensive interagency system of early intervention for children in Ukraine.

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This decision was made during a meeting with the participation of a wide range of representatives - Minister of Health Oleksandr Kvitashvili, Commissioner of the President of Ukraine for the Rights of Children with Disabilities Mykola Kuleba, Director of the NGO «SOFT Tulip» Erik Blumkolk (Netherlands); Boavid Jose, Board Member of the European Association for Early Intervention, representative of the Department of Health in the Coordination Commission of the National Early Intervention System (Portugal), Natalia Skrypka, Executive Director of the National Assembly of Disabled People of Ukraine, Valentyna Kolomeychuk, Head of the Department of Motherhood and Childhood of the Department of Medical Care of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, and her deputy Tetiana Dubinina, Head of the Developmental Psychology Group of the State Institution «Institute for Health Protection of Children and Adolescents of the National Academy of Medical Sciences of Ukraine», President of the Charitable Foundation «Institute of.

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The event continued cooperation in considering the development of an early intervention service system in Ukraine to organize assistance to young children with special needs, provide systemic support to families raising children with developmental disabilities, prevent parents from abandoning children with psychophysical disabilities and placing them in boarding schools, and prevent disability among children.

Participants discussed the draft Action Plan for the Development of Early Intervention in Ukraine «Early Intervention - Health of the Nation - Future of Ukraine», problems and prospects for its implementation, ways and mechanisms of interagency cooperation in the implementation, functioning and financing of the Early Intervention services system in Ukraine, and opportunities to use international experience.

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As you know, early intervention services are extremely widespread and cost-effective in most countries. In some regions of Ukraine (Kharkiv, Lviv, Odesa, and Zakarpattia regions), elements of a comprehensive early intervention service have already been implemented in some institutions and facilities with the involvement of international technical assistance projects, and there is a willingness to implement pilot projects to further expand early intervention in Ukraine.

«The development of the early intervention system is relevant in connection with the reform of the healthcare system, strengthening of the primary care link, changing the pediatric care model to the family doctor model, and an effective form of ensuring access to comprehensive, time-consuming services for young children with psychophysical developmental disorders, as well as assistance to families raising such children,» said Minister of Health of Ukraine Alexander Kvitashvili.

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Early intervention should include broad coordinated interdisciplinary efforts across sectors and become part of an established and continuously modernized unified comprehensive interagency system for early identification, rehabilitation and social adaptation of children in Ukraine.

According to the European Academy of Childhood Disability, about 1 million children in Ukraine will require constant medical and pedagogical support.