The impact of the Russian invasion on healthcare for people with spina bifida in Ukraine

AbstractWar conflict is especially difficult for people with disabilities and their families. The aim of our study was to determine the impact of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine on the lives of people with spina bifida. We initiated an online survey for people with spina bifida and 53 respondents gave answers. The survey showed that Russian aggression has a significant negative impact on the health of people with spina bifida: their access to basic services (in more than 50% of respondents), and to treatment (in more than 35%) and rehabilitation (in 62.3%). The most vulnerable were people with limited motor activity. Mental health of people was also greatly affected (in 67.9%). Counseling, information and psychological sustentation are important components of support for people with spina bifida and their families during wartime.Keywords: spina bifidawarimpactmedical carebasic servicesmental health AcknowledgmentThe authors would like to thank all children, adults with spina bifida and children’s parents for participation in the survey.The authors express their gratitude to the International charitable organization “Child-Help International” (Belgium)”, “The International Federation for Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus”, “Fundacja Spina Polska”, “Ukraine Project Edegem”, Mission Ihor Vitenko, Polonijne Stowarzyszenie Kulturalno-Oświatowe w Tarnopolu, LLC “Nova Poshta” Ukraine, Coloplast w Polsce, Coloplast Slovakia, Adrian Goretzkii and Bernadeta Prandzioch from the Foundation “Healthcare Education Institute”, Poland for the support of patients with spina bifida in Ukraine.Author contributionsAll authors contributed to the study conception and design. Data collection was performed mainly by MK. Analysis and the first draft of the manuscript was performed by OB and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and provided critical feedback on manuscript drafts as well as approving the final version of the manuscript.Disclosure statementThe authors declare no competing interest.Data availabilityThe datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author (OB) on reasonable request.