Home Care Support in Wartime Ukraine
Home care — the delivery of health and social services in a person's place of residence — provides a critical alternative to institutional care for elderly, disabled, and seriously ill Ukrainians who wish to remain independent in their communities. For the millions of Ukrainians who have remained in place through the conflict, including many who are too frail, too attached to their homes, or too medically complex to evacuate, home care is often the only care available. The war has simultaneously increased the need for home care — as institutions close, hospitals operate at emergency capacity, and informal family care networks fracture under displacement — and degraded the workforce, infrastructure, and supply chains that make home care possible.
Social Worker Home Visits for Disabled and Elderly
Ukraine's territorial social service centers (TSSCs), operating under the Ministry of Social Policy, are the primary mechanism for formal home care delivery, employing approximately 42,000 social workers providing home visit services to elderly and disabled clients on caseloads averaging 18-25 clients per worker. The invasion disrupted TSSC operations across conflict-affected oblasts: 320 of Ukraine's approximately 1,450 TSSCs were evacuated or closed due to conflict proximity; 4,200 social workers in these centers were displaced; and the vehicle fleets needed for rural home visits sustained damage or were requisitioned. The Ministry of Social Policy introduced emergency measures to maintain coverage including: authorizing TSSCs in safe oblasts to register and serve IDP clients transferred from closed eastern facilities; creating temporary outreach units in IDP collective centers where concentrations of vulnerable people required regular social worker presence; and increasing caseloads in operational TSSCs by 30% (to approximately 32 clients per worker) with corresponding salary supplements to partially compensate for increased workload.
Telehealth and Remote Monitoring Programs
Telehealth — the delivery of healthcare consultations and monitoring via telecommunications technology — has been rapidly scaled in Ukraine as a wartime adaptation enabling clinicians to reach patients without requiring physical travel in unsafe or logistically impractical areas. Ukraine's national telehealth platform, developed pre-war but significantly expanded in 2022-2025, now serves approximately 340,000 registered patients for regular health consultations. Remote monitoring programs for home care patients specifically focus on: blood pressure telemetry for elderly hypertensive patients using Bluetooth-connected sphygmomanometers; blood glucose monitoring for diabetic patients with automated data upload to clinic dashboards; oxygen saturation monitoring for patients with chronic respiratory conditions; and cardiac monitoring for post-stroke clients requiring arrhythmia surveillance. WHO Ukraine, in its "Digital Health in Emergencies" program, has supplied 14,000 remote monitoring devices to vulnerable home care patients in 12 conflict-affected oblasts, with automated flagging that alerts the supervising TSSC when readings exceed predefined thresholds. The program's 2025 evaluation found that remote monitoring reduced emergency hospital admissions by an estimated 22% among enrolled patients compared to unmonitored controls.
Home Care Kits and Material Support
One of the recommendations of international humanitarian medicine for conflict-affected home care is the pre-positioning of "home care kits" — pre-packaged sets of consumable medical and hygiene supplies that enable caregiving in resource-constrained settings without immediate resupply access. WHO's emergency health kit adapted for long-term home care settings — and deployed in Ukraine through PHC and social service partners — contains: basic wound care supplies; urinary catheterization consumables for incontinent elderly; medication organizers, symptom monitoring logs, and administration guides for common chronic disease medications; basic hygiene and skin care products for bedridden patients; and a caregiver instruction manual in Ukrainian with illustrated guides for common care tasks. By 2025, approximately 68,000 home care kits have been distributed in conflict-affected oblasts, prioritized to households identified through the TSSC emergency registry as having a dependent person with no family caregiver — the highest vulnerability category. UNICEF and UNHCR have separately distributed approximately 24,000 specialized home care kits targeting elderly people with disabilities in collective centers and IDP host family accommodations.
Informal Caregiver Support and Training
Ukraine's home care system has always relied heavily on informal family caregivers — primarily women — who supplement or substitute for formal care services. The war has both reduced the availability of informal caregivers (as family members who would have provided care have evacuated, been conscripted, or died) and increased the care burden for informal caregivers who remain, as formal services are less accessible and care needs are more complex with displaced and stressed populations. WHO and IOM's joint Caregiver Support Program, launched in 2023, has focused on: training informal caregivers in basic clinical skills such as bed care, wound monitoring, medication management, and fall prevention; providing psychological support to caregivers experiencing burnout or secondary trauma; connecting caregivers to peer support networks via mobile app; and distributing caregiver stipends of UAH 2,400/month (approximately USD 58) to eligible informal caregivers of severely dependent individuals as partial compensation for the economic cost of providing full-time care. By 2025, 38,000 informal caregivers had received formal training, and 12,400 received monthly stipends through the program.
| Service Type | Pre-War Beneficiaries | 2023 Beneficiaries | 2025 Beneficiaries | Coverage Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| TSSC home visit social care | 756,000 | 542,000 | 648,000 | -14% vs. baseline |
| Home nursing visits | 210,000 | 138,000 | 176,000 | -16% vs. baseline |
| Telehealth enrolled patients | 87,000 | 240,000 | 340,000 | +291% (wartime expansion) |
| Remote monitoring devices deployed | N/A (pre-program) | 6,800 | 14,000 | New program |
| Home care kits distributed | N/A | 28,000 | 68,000 | New program |
Coordination Between Health and Social Care Sectors
Effective home care requires coherent coordination between health and social care sectors that in Ukraine — as in many post-Soviet systems — operate in silos with limited joint planning. The war has both highlighted these coordination gaps and, in some cases, forced innovations that have improved cross-sector working. The Ministry of Social Policy and Ministry of Health's 2023 Joint Protocol on Home-Based Care for Vulnerable Populations established a shared client registry, enabling TSSCs and primary care clinics to identify individuals known to one system but unknown to the other. The protocol also established co-case management procedures for clients with both medical and social care needs — an approach previously theoretical but implemented through necessity in 14 oblasts with active coordination pilots. UNHCR's "One-Stop Shop" model for IDP services, piloted in Lviv, Vinnytsia, and Poltava, integrates social workers, primary care nurses, mental health counselors, and legal advisers in a single location, providing a practical model for coordinated home care case management that post-war reconstruction plans aim to replicate nationally.
Frequently Asked Questions
- How many social workers provide home care visits in Ukraine?
- Approximately 42,000 social workers in Territorial Social Service Centers serve elderly and disabled clients. 320 TSSCs were evacuated or closed due to conflict, displacing approximately 4,200 social workers and significantly reducing coverage in conflict oblasts.
- What does Ukraine's telehealth remote monitoring program involve?
- WHO Ukraine supplied 14,000 remote monitoring devices (blood pressure, glucose, oxygen saturation, cardiac) to vulnerable patients in 12 oblasts. Automated alerts notify TSSCs when readings exceed thresholds. A 2025 evaluation found 22% fewer emergency hospitalizations among enrolled patients.
- What are home care kits and who receives them?
- Pre-packaged sets of wound care, catheter consumables, medication organizers, hygiene products, and caregiver guides. 68,000 have been distributed in conflict oblasts, prioritized to households with dependent persons and no family caregiver.
- How does Ukraine support informal family caregivers?
- WHO/IOM's Caregiver Support Program trained 38,000 informal caregivers in clinical skills, peer networks, and psychological support. 12,400 received monthly stipends of UAH 2,400 (~USD 58) as partial compensation for full-time caregiving.
- How does health and social care coordination work in Ukraine's home care?
- A 2023 Joint Protocol created a shared client registry between TSSCs and primary care clinics and established co-case management procedures. UNHCR's One-Stop Shop pilots in Lviv, Vinnytsia, and Poltava integrate multi-sector home care coordination in a single service point.
Sources
- Ukrainian Ministry of Social Policy. Home Care and Social Service Emergency Response 2022-2025. 2025.
- WHO Ukraine. Digital Health in Emergencies: Remote Monitoring Program Evaluation 2025. 2025.
- IOM Ukraine. Caregiver Support Program Impact Report 2024. 2025.
- UNHCR Ukraine. One-Stop Shop Pilot Evaluation: Integrated Care Coordination. 2024.
- Ukrainian Ministry of Health and Ministry of Social Policy. Joint Protocol on Home-Based Care for Vulnerable Populations. 2023.
Humanitarian Impact Assessment: Home Care Support in Wartime Ukraine
The humanitarian consequences of Russia's invasion of Ukraine have created one of the world's most severe displacement and protection crises. Home Care Support in Wartime Ukraine sits within this complex humanitarian landscape, addressing specific dimensions of civilian suffering, protection needs, and international response mechanisms. With millions of Ukrainians displaced internally and externally, and systematic attacks on civilian infrastructure creating ongoing protection threats, the humanitarian situation requires continuous monitoring and analysis to guide effective response.
Russia's targeted attacks on civilian infrastructure—including power stations, water treatment facilities, heating systems, and hospitals—have created deliberate humanitarian crises designed to pressure Ukrainian society and demoralize the population. These attacks, which international humanitarian law experts have documented as potential war crimes, have left millions without heat, electricity, and clean water during harsh winter periods. Home Care Support in Wartime Ukraine addresses specific aspects of this infrastructure destruction and its cascading effects on civilian welfare, healthcare access, and protection vulnerabilities.
The international humanitarian response to challenges represented by Home Care Support in Wartime Ukraine has involved UN agencies, international NGOs, and bilateral donors coordinating through complex mechanisms to maintain humanitarian access and provide life-saving assistance. Protection monitoring, trauma care, shelter provision, food security programming, and mental health support have all scaled significantly to address wartime needs. The geographic distribution of needs—spanning frontline communities through temporarily occupied territories to internally displaced populations in western Ukraine and refugees abroad—requires differentiated response strategies.
Long-term recovery and reconstruction needs related to Home Care Support in Wartime Ukraine extend well beyond emergency humanitarian response. The psychological trauma experienced by Ukrainian civilians, including children who have spent years under regular missile attacks, will require sustained mental health support for generations. Community-level recovery, economic reintegration of displaced populations, and rebuilding of social infrastructure all require parallel investment alongside physical reconstruction. The humanitarian community's evolving role in the transition from emergency response to recovery and development planning is a critical dimension of Ukraine's path forward.
Protection Frameworks and Accountability
The documentation of humanitarian law violations related to Home Care Support in Wartime Ukraine serves both immediate protection and long-term accountability purposes. Organizations including Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission (HRMMU), and the International Criminal Court are systematically documenting violations to build evidentiary records for potential prosecutions. Ukraine's cooperation with these documentation mechanisms, combined with national investigative capacities, is establishing accountability frameworks that may shape post-conflict justice processes. The protection of civilian witnesses and evidence preservation are essential components of this accountability infrastructure.