Through the advocacy initiative «First Breath» ZDOROVI launched systemic changes in neonatology

The advocacy program for perinatal support «First Breath» became an important step toward deeper and more comprehensive support for Ukrainian perinatal centers, which perform miracles for saving and stabilizing prematurely born babies.

Despite the end of the first active phase of the project, implemented with the support of our partner ISAR Unity, we continue to provide comprehensive support to Ukrainian neonatology.

The uniqueness of the ZDOROVI initiative «First Breath» lies in its holistic approach and solutions that brought together not only Ukrainian but also international communities in the strive to save lives of “preemies” — as neonatologists call babies born prematurely.

“The stabilization of premature infants has required significant resources from the state, the medical community, and society even in peaceful times. And in times of great war, the most vulnerable have become exactly the smallest and most exposed. Implementing a project that combines crisis provisioning of perinatal facilities with medicines and equipment for urgent newborn care, support for horizontal links, and training of neonatology specialists in European practices, the introduction of International Standards GFCNI, and broad public communication in Ukraine and beyond gives hope to professional and parental communities that children remain a priority for society even in such difficult times,” emphasized Irina Kondratova, neonatologist, head of the project working group «First Breath», advisor to the head of the National Health Service of Ukraine, and associate professor of the Department of Pediatrics No.1 and Neonatology at Kharkiv National Medical University.

Over more than a year of productive work on the project, the ZDOROVI team conducted a number of advocacy, communications, and informational activities, thanks to which it was possible to attract the attention of the broad public to the problems of “stabilization” and care for prematurely born infants. They require special attention from doctors from the first moments of life.

Helping such children is extremely important. Unfortunately, due to the war in Ukraine the number of babies born prematurely is continually increasing. Every little life is extraordinarily precious, and the daily devoted work of medical staff must have comprehensive financial, technical, and expert support not only from profile health institutions but also from the international community to overcome dangerous trends.

Therefore, at the beginning 2025 year we decided to stand shoulder to shoulder with medical facilities, government authorities, and parental and patient organizations to strengthen the capacity of Ukrainian medicine to save the lives of prematurely born children. After the idea was conceived, we began systematic work to implement it — with GlobalGiving support we conducted research on the current state of the perinatal care system in Ukraine to assess staffing and material-technical provision, organization of neonatal care, provision of facilities with medicines and equipment, and implementation of family-centered care in accordance with international standards.

Based on the research results and expert recommendations, we developed the advocacy program «First Breath» and received grant support from the Ascold and Dir Foundation, administered by ISAR Unity with funding from Norway and Sweden. Since the decision was made to advocate systematic changes in perinatal care in Ukraine, a year and a half has passed, and we are ready to share with you the results of our work during this period.

Activities within the expert circle sparked reforms

Ukraine faces certain challenges related to a shortage of specialists in neonatology and perinatal medicine (for example, neonatal nurses), a lack of educational programs and opportunities, and difficulties in organizing international exchange initiatives, especially for front-line regions. All of this, unfortunately, slows the development of the sector and affects the quality of medical services.

To kick off changes in this direction, ZDOROVI conducted within the «First Breath» initiative a number of expert events on topics related to neonatology, including:

roundtable «Staff shortage in neonatology and ways to overcome it»

roundtable dedicated to the topic «System of post-diploma education for neonatal nurses in Europe»

workshop «Architecture of infection control and modern hygiene protocols»

In February 2026 year, a delegation of Ukrainian neonatology doctors visited several Polish perinatal centers for experience exchange and expert discussions. During the visit, professional discussions and an international roundtable “International internships as a new norm. How to make high-quality practice accessible to Ukrainian neonatologists?” took place, where Ukrainian doctors shared with Polish colleagues their experience managing facilities during wartime and the infrastructural crisis.

A photography exhibition that touched people's hearts

In addition to very concrete financial and practical assistance provided to facilities over the past year, ZDOROVI also organized and implemented a project capable of melting anyone’s heart and drawing attention to the problems of saving prematurely born children in Ukraine, who even in peaceful times face numerous challenges, and during war fight for life in extreme conditions.

The photo project «First days of life of a prematurely born child through her own eyes» showed in photo collages, stories, and audio installations the vulnerability of such babies, the tireless battle of medical staff for their lives, and the all-encompassing love of parents for their little ones.

This photo exhibition was demonstrated — both online and offline — at Ukrainian and international venues, including pediatric departments of hospitals, at the site of our Alliance UA CSO partners (Alliance UA CSO), during the VIII Congress of the Ukrainian Academy of Pediatric Specialties PRIME PEDIATRICS 2026 in Lviv, and at the international Growing Europe summit 2025, whose theme was «Shaping Europe’s Demographic Future: Investments in Families and Every New Life», held in Vilnius, Lithuania.

Over the coming months the photo exhibition will be accessible to visitors at several more locations in Ukraine and abroad, including international medical conferences and other professional healthcare events.

«First Breath» on the international arena

Another important event within the «First Breath» initiative was Valeria Sereda’s speech, ZDOROVI advocacy director, at the OSCE Warsaw Human Dimension Conference 2025. Specifically, during the session «Children at the centre: advancing democracy throughout childhood» the advocacy program «First Breath. National Perinatal Support Program» was presented, serving as an example of practical implementation of the rule of law principles in child welfare.

The event became an important occasion to convey Ukrainian experience to the international community. For a country experiencing war, supporting the most vulnerable population — children born under dangerous conditions — is a component of democratic resilience. After all, a country that takes care of its children takes care of its future.

The topic of advocacy for the rights and needs of prematurely born children and the facilities that provide them assistance in the first months of life was raised by the ZDOROVI team at other international venues, such as preparatory meetings before the Ukraine Recovery Conference (URC) in Sweden in June 2025 year, the international URC conference 2025 in Italy in July 2025 year, the international conference “Health system in wartime. How to use Ukrainian experience?” in Poland in December 2025 year, and the Second Conference dedicated to Swedish support for the recovery and development of the health system in Ukraine, held in Sweden in December 2025 year.

Implementation of European standards in neonatology in Ukraine

For ZDOROVI it is important to bring the maximum benefit to the Ukrainian neonatology sector through the implementation of the «First Breath» project. Therefore we also joined the process of implementing European standards for the care of newborn health (ESCNH) in Ukraine.

In particular, Ukrainian translation and adaptation of the «Nutrition» section of which the materials will soon be available to domestic neonatologists. The publication of these European standards is planned in collaboration with the Global Foundation for the Care of Newborn Infants (GFCNI).

Systemic changes initiated by ZDOROVI continue

Our main task within the «First Breath» project is to act as a catalyst for changes in the industry and to initiate systemic support for Ukrainian neonatology from government institutions, NGOs, and international partners.

Of course, industry problems will not disappear in one day, but the ZDOROVI team is prepared to continue supporting healthcare facilities with all resources available to us and to keep attracting the attention of both the Ukrainian and international communities to the challenges faced by prematurely born babies, their parents, and the medical staff of facilities where they are tirelessly helped day in and day out.

«We at ZDOROVI believe that the development of Ukrainian neonatology is an irreversible and sustainable process, and we are proud to have contributed to these transformations. Every child born today in Ukraine is a contribution to the country’s recovery tomorrow. We also want to express deep respect and support for the medical staff of perinatal facilities, because during the project activities we were again convinced of their professionalism, resilience, benevolence, and readiness to change for the better quality of life of newborn Ukrainians,» noted Natalia Tulinova, founder and CEO of ZDOROVI.

Annual grant support from our partner ISAR Unity has ended. We are currently working on attracting funding for the next period of advocacy actions. In the meantime, we continue to increase our sector impact through other projects and initiatives. Specifically:

- we secured funding amounting to 600 000 million US dollars from the U.S. Department of State for the procurement of equipment for 5 perinatal centers

- with support from our partner GlobalGiving, 200 vials of the medical drug Curosurf, which prematurely born babies critically need for full development of the respiratory system, were purchased for 68 000 million US dollars;

- within the initiative to increase the inclusivity of Ukrainian perinatal facilities we provided hospitals with inclusive gynecological chairs for women with disabilities for 70 000 million US dollars;

- frontline regions;

- for the prevention of obstetric bleeding and the provision of high-quality medical care to new mothers we supplied profile health facilities with necessary medicines costing 54 000 million US dollars;

- we handed over to the Regional Medical Center of Family Health in Dnipro a specialized manikin to practice postpartum hemorrhage control, the purchase value of which was over 8 000 million US dollars.

The «First Breath» project is implemented with the support of the Askol'd and Dir Foundation, administered by ISAR Unity within the framework of the initiative «Strong Civil Society of Ukraine – Driver of Reforms and Democracy» funded by the governments of Norway and Sweden.