The demographic situation in Ukraine has been deteriorating for decades; currently, its state can be characterized as critical. One of the key components of the demographic crisis in Ukraine is infant mortality. The infant mortality rate in Ukraine is several times higher than in the countries of Western Europe and the USA.
The problem seems even graver now that Ukraine is being strictly abided by the World Health Organization (WHO) standard from January 1, 2007. According to the standard, all infants born after 22 weeks of pregnancy of a weight of 500 grams and more must be nursed. Introducing of the WHO standard is a serious challenge to the domestic health care system.

The current state of equipment, the conditions and qualifications of the personnel often do not allow providing high-quality medical assistance to newborn infants in a critical state to ensure the required quality of living for them. Due to the problem being global and critical, it cannot be solved by governmental institutions alone. Therefore, assistance from non-governmental public and charitable organizations is needed.

Victor Pinchuk considers that business organizations must assist a state in social problems' solving. He acknowledges the problem's scale and, being a patriot, will readily step in. Activities of the Foundation, initiated by Viktor Pinchuk in 2006, are aimed at promoting the development of social sphere in Ukraine, including a health care.

"Cradles of Hope" is one of the programmes of the Foundation in the area of medicine. Under the programme, a network of neonatal assistance centres equipped with up-to-date nursing facilities, will be set up across the territory of Ukraine.

While implementing the "Cradles of Hope" programme, Victor Pinchuk Foundation pursued the following objectives:

• To lower the mortality rate of infants under one year of age through supplying the equipment for saving their lives;
• To contribute to lowering the number of physically handicapped infants and improving the quality of life of the surviving infants through the use of cutting-edge technologies and high-quality equipment;
• Promote the implementation of up-to-date standards at medical institutions of Ukraine;
• Make for the development of domestic medical professionals community, including through information support via the programme's Internet resource.