ISSN 2786-4561 (printed)
ISSN 2786-457X (online)

Vol.7.1 (2026). pp. 68-81

Healthcare system of Ukraine in wartime: challenges and ways of transformation

Shparaga T.

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2713-1409

Mykhailenko T.

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7694-3943

Taras Shevchenko National University, Kyiv, Ukraine

https://doi.org/10.17721/2786-4561.2026.7.1-8/14

Annotation. The article is devoted to the research of the functioning and transformation of Ukraine’s healthcare system amid a full-scale war. The relevance of the topic stems from the significant increase in the burden on the healthcare system due to the destruction of medical infrastructure, forced population displacement, staff shortages, reduced access to medical services, and the growing need for trauma treatment, rehabilitation, and psychosocial support for the population. The aim of the research is to analyze key transformational processes in the healthcare sector, identify the main challenges facing the system’s operation during wartime, and assess its role as a important element of the state’s social resilience. The methodological basis is based on general scientific methods, including descriptive, source analysis, analysis and synthesis, systematization, comparison, statistical analysis, logical generalization, and a systems approach, which made it possible to comprehensively assess the adaptive mechanisms of the healthcare system. Institutional, organizational, legal and managerial changes in the functioning of the healthcare system are analyzed. As a result, it was found that the Ukrainian healthcare system demonstrated significant adaptability to crisis conditions through the reorientation of resources to priority areas, developіng mobile forms of medical care, telemedicine, electronic prescriptions, as well as the integration of military and civilian medicine. At the same time, a number of problems have been identified that hinder the effectiveness of reform: staff shortages, territorial disparities, underdeveloped public health systems, uneven funding and limited digital infrastructure. It has been concluded that the further development of the healthcare system requires the creation of comprehensive models for the sustainability of healthcare facilities, improving access to services and adapting international practices to the Ukrainian conditions of war and post-war recovery.

Keywords: healthcare system, medical services, quality of medical care, mobile teams, digitalization, healthcare system transformation.

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