Integrating sexual and reproductive health in higher education and healthcare services in Ukraine: A sustainable initiative for empowering war-affected youth.
Erlandsson K, Marichereda V, et al. • Sexual & reproductive healthcare : official journal of the Swedish Association of Midwives • 2025
A Swedish Institute-funded project integrating Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights into Ukrainian university curricula for medicine, psychology, and social work students identified the need to establish Youth Clinics at Ukrainian universities to address the SRHR needs of war-affected youth.
Key Findings
Background
A Swedish Institute-funded project was established to incorporate SRHR into university curricula for undergraduate students in Ukraine during wartime.
The project targets undergraduate students in medicine, psychology, and social work fields.
The initiative aims to empower students to support SRHR among youth and young adults in wartime and post-war Ukraine.
The project aligns with the EU Eastern Partnership and the UN's Agenda 2030 frameworks.
Funding was provided by the Swedish Institute (SI).
Methods
A study tour to Sweden was conducted in August 2024 by managers and faculty from Ukrainian universities to inform the project.
The study tour took place in August 2024.
Participants included managers and faculty from Ukrainian universities.
The tour was conducted in Sweden, presumably to observe existing SRHR educational and healthcare models.
The visit served as a knowledge-exchange mechanism between Swedish and Ukrainian institutions.
Results
Ukrainian university visitors to Sweden identified the need to establish Youth Clinics at Ukrainian universities to address SRHR needs of war-affected youth.
The identification of this need emerged during the August 2024 study tour to Sweden.
The proposed Youth Clinics would be located at Ukrainian universities.
The target population is described as 'war-affected youth.'
This finding suggests a gap in current SRHR healthcare service provision for youth in Ukraine.
Conclusions
The initiative frames SRHR integration in Ukrainian higher education as a sustainable approach to supporting war-affected youth populations.
The project addresses both educational programs and healthcare services simultaneously.
The initiative is described as relevant to both wartime and post-war contexts in Ukraine.
The project involves multiple disciplines: medicine, psychology, and social work.
The approach is positioned as supporting long-term sustainability through embedding SRHR in university curricula.
What This Means
This research describes an international collaboration, funded by the Swedish Institute, aimed at improving sexual and reproductive health education and services for young people in Ukraine during and after the ongoing war. The project works with universities in Ukraine to incorporate sexual and reproductive health topics into the training of future doctors, psychologists, and social workers. In August 2024, Ukrainian university leaders and faculty visited Sweden to learn from Swedish models of youth health services.
During their visit to Sweden, the Ukrainian participants recognized that their country lacks dedicated youth health clinics at universities — a model that exists in Sweden — and identified establishing such clinics as an important step toward meeting the sexual and reproductive health needs of young people affected by the war. The war has created significant disruptions to healthcare access and has placed young people under considerable stress, making targeted health services especially important.
This research suggests that integrating sexual and reproductive health into university curricula and establishing university-based youth clinics could be a practical and sustainable way to improve health outcomes for war-affected young people in Ukraine. The initiative connects to broader international goals, including the United Nations' 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, highlighting how educational and healthcare reforms can be coordinated across countries even during times of crisis.
Erlandsson K, Marichereda V, Klymanska L, Klos L, Haletska I, Klimanska M, et al.. (2025). Integrating sexual and reproductive health in higher education and healthcare services in Ukraine: A sustainable initiative for empowering war-affected youth.. Sexual & reproductive healthcare : official journal of the Swedish Association of Midwives. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.srhc.2024.101060