Impact of armed conflicts and warfare on opioid substitution treatment in Ukraine: Responding to emergency needs

Despite many programmatic and structural challenges the OST program has been one of the most effective medical and psychosocial interventions for the people who inject drugs (PWIDs) and who use opioids in Ukraine, reducing health risks and improving the quality of their life.

Social and political crises affect vulnerable populations and have negative consequences. The political crisis and military invasion which Ukraine faced in 2014 is a critical example of such negative influences. The OST program and its implementers met difficulties and obstacles never seen before. Starting from February 2014 waves of unrest originating in Kyiv and Western Ukraine spread all over the country creating a fertile environment for the interruption of treatment.

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