Dear journalists!

Today, NGOs, patients and average Ukrainians appealed to the President of Ukraine with an open letter, calling to cancel the Law № 5038-VI, which will lead to a significant increase in drug prices, and due to which some drugs will disappear from pharmacy shelves.

Today, as a result of the round table "Transparency of governmental procurements 2013", Ministry of Health and NGOs have signed a resolution that strengthened the timing of tenders in Ukraine, as well as their transparency. Now tenders for drugs procurements for patients with terminal diseases will be announced no later than February 28th of the current year, and civic activists and patients will have access to all stages of the tender process.

State Budget of Ukraine for 2013, voted on today by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, became fatal sentence for 110,000 Ukrainians living with HIV, tuberculosis and hepatitis – it was reported today by the representatives of UCAB patient organization that fights for the treatment for people living with terminal diseases in Ukraine.

"Ukraine under QUARANTINE!” – this is the letter received today by the Ambassadors of foreign countries to Ukraine. This is how community and patient organizations have warned the global community about three epidemics raging in Ukraine: hepatitis, TB and AIDS. This is how Ukrainians with life-threatening diseases tried to draw attention of high officials toward complete disregard of the problem of epidemics in their country.

During the last UCAB meeting on 29-31 October, 2012, main priorities for the next year were defined, and work undertaken over the last 2 years (since establishment) was summarized.

Starting from 2015, there will be mandatory International Drug Manufacturing Standards approved by the World Health Organization introduced in Ukraine to protect patients from poor quality drug use. This agreement was reached by patients and the Ministry of Health during the round-table discussion on May 31, 2012.

Press release
April 11, 2012
Kyiv