Over 80% of Ukrainians live in chronic stress, mental health support services needed in every community – First Lady
Ukraine’s First Lady Olena Zelenska has highlighted the need to scale up mental health services in Ukraine, noting that the vast majority of Ukrainians are currently living in chronic stress and emotional tension.
“A lot of effort is being made to scale up mental health services so that they are available in every community, and this requires the support of partners. The Mental Health Coordination Center under the Cabinet of Ministers is a key actor in this area,” Zelenska said at the plenary session of the Ukraine Reconstruction Conference (URC2025) in Rome on Thursday.
“More than 80% of Ukrainians live in chronic stress and emotional tension… Our economy continues to function thanks to millions of people who go to work after nights spent in basements. At these moments, the main emotions they experience are fatigue, tension and despair,” she said.
The First Lady also said that 11,000 rehabilitation specialists work in Ukraine, and over the past year and a half they have helped 600,000 Ukrainians who were injured as a result of hostilities and enemy strikes on Ukraine.
"We are learning from the best world clinics... but our own experience has also grown to such a level that we can already share it, and for this purpose, Ukraine has launched a medical partnership - this is direct international cooperation between medical institutions," Zelenska said, inviting conference participants to join this initiative.