By Anne Kauranen
HELSINKI (Reuters) – A group of Nordic donors has raised nearly one million euros to treat Ukrainian children traumatised by war, initially in an online clinic which they hope to turn into a new children’s hospital to be built in Ukraine if more donors join in.
Nearly two thirds of Ukraine’s children have been forced to flee their homes following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine more than two years ago. The United Nations warned in January that some 1.5 million children were at risk of suffering post-traumatic stress and other mental health conditions.
The Nordic donors have set up a foundation called Nadiya, meaning ‘hope’ in Ukrainian, which aims to collect 150 million euros ($164 million) in donations to build a hospital and trauma research unit in Ukraine. They have so far raised 900,000 euros.
“To ensure immediate help gets to Ukraine, the hospital will first be opened digitally,” they said in a statement on Thursday. “Digitalization allows for the utilization of new technologies, such as virtual reality, in the treatment of war trauma.”
The donors, led by former Finnish government minister and business executive Anne Berner, said Finland could draw on its own historical experience of war traumas.
“We have seen what happens when untreated traumas are passed down from one generation to another,” Berner said in the statement.
Finland fought back an invasion attempt by the Soviet Union during World War Two, which medical experts have said led to multi-generational mental health issues and alcoholism after the hostilities ended.
The donors include Finland’s Deaconess Foundation, game maker Supercell founders Ilkka Paananen’s and Mikko Kodisoja’s foundations, Swedish Medicover Foundation, Norwegian Andresen family’s investment company Ferd and Danish IT firm Netcompany.
($1 = 0.9142 euros)
(Reporting by Anne Kauranen; Editing by Gareth Jones)
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