Helping children with epilepsy

Every year on the second Monday of February, the International Epilepsy Day is celebrated. This is one of the most frequent neurological diseases in the world. There are about 40 varieties of this disease, its most severe forms are manifested by sudden seizures, convulsions and mental abstraction. The unpredictability of the seizures, their constant expectation, fear of being rejected by the society – these are the causes that make people suffering from this disease suffer even more.

There are about 100 thousand patients diagnosed with epilepsy in Ukraine. Every fourth of them is a child. The life of these children is under constant control - the slightest trauma or stress can cause violent seizures. Because of fear of a seizure in public places, at school, in the presence of friends, many children with epilepsy keep to themselves and try not to communicate with their peers. In most cases, daily medications intake helps to avoid such complications and seizures.

Thanks to the help of Rinat Akhmetov Foundation, more than four hundred Donbas children with epilepsy regularly receive the necessary medications and can live a productive life.

“Under the “Medications for Children” project, the Foundation regularly provides medications for children suffering from epilepsy, asthma and diabetes,” says Iryna Temerko, Programmes and Projects Manager of Rinat Akhmetov Foundation. “The main goal of the project is to help families with seriously ill children; to keep the disease in remission, to prevent it from progressing, and most importantly - to prevent a child from becoming disabled. Thanks to the “Medications for Children” project 427 children with epilepsy or suffering from convulsive syndrome have already received help.”

How to get assistance under the “Medications for Children” project?

All children under 14 living in non-government-controlled territories of Donetsk and Luhansk regions, as well as children from families of internally displaced people can receive medical assistance. The main direction of assistance is providing anti-asthmatics and anticonvulsants.

To get medications you need:

1. Contact the Humanitarian Center’s hotline 0-800-509-001 and leave an application.
2. Answer the call of the Humanitarian Center’s employee and find out what documents should be submitted and in what pharmacy the medications can be obtained.
3. Get the medications in the pharmacy, presenting the necessary set of documents. Healthcare products are issued in pharmacies of Mariupol, Kramatorsk and Bakhmut.