24-25 March, a training seminar «Strengthening Health System Responses to Gender based Violence» was held by the United Nations Population Fund in Ukraine in Kharkiv. Since health care specialists are often the first to identify cases of violence against women, the aim of this workshop is to improve the professional competence of health care managers in providing medical assistance to victims of gender-based violence.

The seminar was attended by the managers of departments and divisions of health care, social service centers for families, children and young people, heads of city and district healthcare facilities, as well as representatives of UNFPA and members of the mobile teams that provide psychosocial assistance to people affected by violence in eastern regions of Ukraine.

The seminar program includes discussion of the problem of gender based violence and possibilities of identification of such cases. The participants get theoretical and practical information on providing comprehensive medical and social assistance to survivors of violence. In particular, during the training the healthcare managers together with regional representatives of UNFPA analyze clinical cases of a patient’s exposure to gender based violence, develop an algorithm to assist survivors and improve referral mechanism among organizations that provide services. The participants also discuss the strategy of further implementation of acquired knowledge in their health care institutions and improvement of the coordination of assistance among different organizations.