Today in Kyiv, USAID Administrator Samantha Power announced $15 million in additional development funding to further strengthen USAID's mental health and psychosocial support programming in Ukraine, including through the First Lady of Ukraine's All-Ukrainian Mental Health Initiative.
More than 500 days of the Russian Federation's brutal, full-scale war against Ukraine has placed enormous strains on Ukraine's mental health care system as Russia's military assault inflicts trauma on Ukrainians across the country. To support Ukraine and meet these needs, USAID has committed nearly $36 million in development funding since February 2022, to support access to mental health and psychosocial support services across the country.
USAID will work closely with the Government of Ukraine and the First Lady's All-Ukrainian Mental Health Initiative to strengthen service provision and support the design of a new national model and program for mental health and psychological treatment, which will seek to improve Ukraine's mental health workforce and its ability to provide mental health care.
USAID has supported the provision of mental health services to veterans in Ukraine since 2015, including introducing the Common Elements Treatment Approach (CETA), a non-medicalized counseling model with proven effectiveness in addressing mental health disorders in Ukraine. While responding to acute needs created by Russia's invasion, USAID's goal is to help Ukraine build integrated, accessible, and sustainable mental health care systems that address long-term needs in Ukrainian society.
