Digital mental health services for war-torn Kyiv

“Psychological health is the number one problem for Ukraine,” said Kyiv mental health specialist Inna Davydenko. “Number one is Russia, number two is our psychological health. PTSD is our future.”

But the war isn’t when Kyiv’s mental health struggles began. 

Before the invasion, an estimated 10 percent of Ukrainians were living with some form of a mental health condition. The city’s healthcare system inherited the Soviet healthcare Semashko model, with a centralized and often impersonal approach to care. 

As a result, Ukrainians were already suffering from a shortage of accessible mental health providers, with most hospitals across Ukraine having no more than one to two mental health providers on staff. 

The mid-2010s saw a rise in support for healthcare reform in Ukraine, and 2018 ushered in Ukraine’s new National Health Service along with a codification of every Ukrainian’s right to healthcare in the Programme of Medical Guarantees.

The pandemic and then the war hampered that expansion of care—but it also made it more critical of a priority. 

In December 2022, first lady Olena Zelenska declared mental health a priority with her initiative, the National Program of Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS). The initiative for building out mental health infrastructure aims to address immediate needs—and invest in Ukraine’s future, incentivizing Ukrainians to come home from abroad. 

Kyiv’s citywide mental health infrastructure investment looks to do the same.

Bootstrapping digital mental health in Kyiv

The Kyiv Digital platform isn’t just for checking in on how the city’s residents are doing. Originally developed in 2017 as a system to notify about and manage parking and public transit, the platform’s purpose and function have since been reworked.

Initially, when Russia’s invasion began, the city government’s IT department moved fast. Kyiv Digital began notifying residents of incoming attacks and bomb shelter locations within hours. Since then, the government has been constantly creating and reworking features, innovating at breakneck speed to best serve their city in crisis.

One of the newest features Kyiv Digital plans to roll out is a digitization of citywide mental health support, bolstered by a donation from Bloomberg Philanthropies.

The goal is to grow Kyiv’s mental health providers’ ability to reach the most vulnerable residents in need of support. Virtual visits and digital registration via Kyiv’s online platform are a part of that puzzle.

“Our support for Kyiv comes in two forms: We’re building up their team, with people highly skilled in user design, data science, project, management, and more to strengthen their intern capacity,” said Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Government Innovation program lead James Anderson. “And in addition to our team, we’ll also be making one of the world’s best technical assistance partners on digitization, Public Digital, available to support their work, soup to nuts. And Bloomberg Philanthropies is proud to deepen and accelerate the City’s digital efforts, which will not only improve lives locally but serve as a beacon for cities struggling with crisis elsewhere.”

In the words of Kyiv’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko, “even under martial law,” Kyiv’s work in this area of health will serve as a model. Not only for fellow Bloomberg Philanthropies beneficiary cities, but for any area of the world where mental health needs and current offerings do not line up. 

Sometimes, a major crisis is what is needed to push healthcare innovation forward—but it doesn’t have to be that way. We laud Kyiv for its dedication to its people and technical creativity. We implore innovators from across the world to take note.