World’s Leading Neonatologists Shared Their Experience with Ukrainian Doctors at the 9th Conference under the Victor Pinchuk Foundation’s Cradles of Hope Programme

The Victor Pinchuk Foundation’s Cradles of Hope programme has held the 9^th academic and practice conference for doctors and nurses of newborn intensive care units, themed “Preterm newborns. Achievements and prospects.” The event took place on November 7 and 8, 2017, in Kyiv. It introduced to Ukrainian neonatologists new trends in nursing preterm infants.

For 11 years already, the Cradles of Hope project, in addition to providing modern equipment to neonatal centres, has been deploying systemic efforts to train doctors and nurses in world’s best methods of infant nursing. As part of this project, the Foundation promotes introduction of new techniques and practices on the way of reform of the maternal and child health in Ukraine.

Benjamin Loring, Head of the Board of the Victor Pinchuk Foundation: “For over 11 years, the Victor Pinchuk Foundation’s Cradles of Hope programme has been contributing to modernizing and transformation of the country in the field of healthcare. The goal of this effort is to enable saving every child born in Ukraine. We are proud that over the time of the programme operation, more than 40 000 babies have been saved who got a chance to be part of building a new country.”

150 specialists of newborn intensive care units from all over Ukraine and representatives of field-specific Departments of the national educational medical establishments took part in the conference. For the first time ever, nurses became participants of the conference who enjoyed a special professional session in addition to the main programme.

This year’s reporters at the conference were world’s leading academicians and practitioners in the field of neonatology: professor Richard Polin, Columbia University, New York, USA; professor Rangasamy Ramanathan, Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, USA; professor Filip Cools, University Hospital of the Vrije Universiteit Brussels, Belgium; Doctor Wes Onland, Emma Children’s Hospital, Amsterdam, Netherlands.

Tetiana Znamenska, President of the Association of Neonatologists of Ukraine: “The Victor Pinchuk Foundation’s annual conference is an important and long-awaited event in the community of Ukrainian neonatologists. For us, it is an opportunity to learn first hand about newest global trends and methods on nursing preterm babies. Much of what we heard for the first time several years ago has been successfully introduced into practice and adapted in the relevant protocols for newborn intensive care. Neonatology has been developing at a very high pace in the recent years in our country, largely thanks to such gatherings and experiences shared. I am delighted to note that the today’s level of our specialists is quite high, and it allows us speak the same professional language with western colleagues.”

A wide range of specialised themes was covered during the event related to providing medical help to preterm newborns. These included, among other, aspects of use of various methods of breathing support, prevention and treatment of respiratory disturbances and complications as a result of long artificial lung ventilation, dealing with hypothermia and cerebral monitoring of patients etc.

Videos with all the reports will be published on the Victor Pinchuk Foundation website for a large access and use by Ukrainian doctors.

• Organised by: the Victor Pinchuk Foundation
• With support of the Association of Neonatologists of Ukraine
• General partner: N.Z.Techno
• Partners: Аmaxa, Nutricia Danon
• Media partner: ICTV

Cradles of Hope is the major programme of the Victor Pinchuk Foundation in the field of healthcare. Its strategic goal is preserving lives and health for each baby born in Ukraine. The Foundation launched the programme implementation in June 2006. Since its establishment, the Foundation has opened 33 Cradles of Hope centres at medical institutions in 24 regions of Ukraine, provided with the top-notch medical equipment for newborn rescue and nursing. More than 40 000 children have been saved thanks to the equipment of the Cradles of Hope centres. The Foundation has organised 28 training events that have encompassed 1 163 Ukrainian doctors and nurses.

The Cradles of Hope programme implies:

• establishment of the nation-wide network of centres of help to newborn, provided with the most up-to-date and best quality equipment;
• respective professional training of the centres’ staff. Trainings, seminars, visiting conferences are organized as part of the programme, involving best specialists from Ukraine, near and far abroad;
• efforts to establish a professional community specialised in help to newborn.

The Cradles of Hope programme is characterised by the centres’ obligatory meeting the high working standards set through the involvement of the best specialists in this field for advice and expert help purposes as well as a continued monitoring of the institutions that are part of the programme.

To learn more about the programme, please visit: www.kolybeli.org

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