Cradles of Hope

In order to curb infant mortality in Ukraine, we develop a network of neonatal centers throughout the country, with state-of-the-art medical equipment and well-trained medical staff.

The infant mortality rate in Ukraine is twice as high as in Western Europe and the United States. Infant mortality is a tragedy for families who lose a child. It is also a major threat to the development of Ukraine, which is facing a sharp demographic decline in and unprecedented ageing of its population.

In June 2006 the Victor Pinchuk Foundation launched the “Cradles of Hope” program, which aims to build up a network of state-of-the-art neonatal centers throughout Ukraine (based in existing state hospitals). In these centers the Foundation provides high-tech medical equipment and training for physicians and nurses in new care technologies for newborn infants, and installs networked computer work stations in order to provide Internet-based access to information in neonatology. This helps to reduce infant mortality and to improve Ukraine’s demographic situation.

In 2009 three new “Cradles of Hope” centers were opened in Kyiv, Mykolaiv and Ternopil, bringing the total number to 19 (in 2006-2008, sixteen “Cradles of Hope” centers had been opened in Chernigiv, Volodymyrets, Poltava, Dnipropetrovs'k, Kyiv, Lutsk, Chernivtsy, Izmail, Bakhchysaray, Symferopol, Odesa, Donetsk, Khmelnytsky, Zhytomyr, Cherkasy and Ivano- Frankivsk). The second neonatal center in Kyiv, which opened in 2009, was a joint project with British artist Damien Hirst. It was financed with funds raised from the sale of a painting, ‘Dark Days,' at Sotheby's, which Damien Hirst donated to the Foundation specifically for this purpose.

Moreover, in 2009 the “Cradles of Hope” program continued to disseminate international know-how. 70 neonatology physicians from all parts of Ukraine were invited to a seminar on state-of-the-art techniques of providing comprehensive care for extremely low birth weight infants. Data collected by physicians show that the lives of a total of almost 8,000 newborn infants have been saved by the "Cradles of Hope" program. As of the end of 2010 the number of “Cradles of Hope” centers amounted to 22.