Ukraine is the largest country entirely within Europe with the territory of 603,628 km2. The main part of the territory of Ukraine is located within the East European Plain (up to 95 % of area). There are 25 main administrative regions, and also cities with a special status (such as Kyiv, capital of the country), which are divided, in turn, into districts. The population of Ukraine is more than 42 million.
Neurology in Ukraine
In accordance with the official statistical reports of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, in the country more than five million people with various diseases of nervous system are registered. Cerebrovascular diseases predominate in the structure of neurological morbidity (up to 65.0 %, including 3.1 % of cerebral strokes), other pathologies are disease of the peripheral nervous system (10.0 %), epilepsy (1.4 %), Parkinson’s disease (0.49 %), demyelinating diseases (0.42 %), etc.
To provide specialized medical care for these patients, there are neurological departments in regional, city, and central district hospitals, which have in total 22,724 beds for neurology.
Medical students are taught in 13 specialised Medical Universities and three schools of medicine in national classical universities. In these educational institutions departments of neurology were established. Three medical academies of postgraduate education provides a postgraduate training for physicians, including neurologists.
History of neurosciences in Ukraine
Ukraine has a more than a century-old history of research in the field of neuroscience. Here, in Kharkiv, in 1883 the first specialised scientific journal in Eastern Europe Archive of Psychiatry, Neurology, and Forensic Pathology was established. In 1922, the Central Ukrainian Scientific Research Psychoneurological Institute was founded in the same city. In 1932, on the base of a number of research and educational institutions it was established the All-Ukrainian Psychoneurological Academy, a great integrated research institution of a new type, consisted of six separate institutes, including one for specialised training (with a medical university, college, and courses for paramedics). This promoted a significant development of neurosciences in Ukraine. Professors of the Institute and the Academy were well-known neurologists Academicians Oleksandr M. Grinshtein and Ivan M. Fylymonov, Hon. Prof. Oleksandr Y. Geymanovych; neuromorphologist Academician Leonid Y. Smyrnov; physiologist Academician Georgiy V. Folbort; neuropsychologists Academicians Oleksandr R. Luria and Oleksiy M. Leontyev and many others.
Now the main scientific research in the field of neurology and neurosciences are carried out in the Institute of Neurology, Psychiatry and Narcology of the National Academy of Medical Sciences of Ukraine State Institution (Kharkiv) and D.F. Chebotarev Institute of Gerontology of the National Academy of Medical Sciences of Ukraine State Institution (Kyiv), as well as in departments of neurology of the medical universities and schools of medicine.
Association of Neurologists, Psychiatrists and Narcologists of Ukraine
The Association of Neurologists, Psychiatrists and Narcologists of Ukraine was established in 1934, and it is the oldest and biggest Ukrainian professional association in the fields of neurology, psychiatry and allied professions. Since 1993, the Society has been publishing its quarterly journal Ukrainian Bulletin of Psychoneurology (Ukrayinskyi Visnyk Psykhonevrologiyi in Ukrainian).
A very special feature of the Association is its integrated structure which allows us to keep strong interdisciplinary cooperation between neurologists, psychiatrists, narcologists, neurosurgeons, neuroscientists, medical psychologists, and other professionals as well as between scientific institutions, university departments and practical health service settings.
The Association gathers representatives from all regions of Ukraine on its conferences annually and organises as national congresses as well.
Beside this, in Ukraine there are specific professional associations on pain problems, stroke, epilepsy, and movement disorders.
On behalf of the Association of Neurologists, Psychiatrists and Narcologists of Ukraine
Tamara S. Mishchenko, Vice President and EAN Delegate for Ukraine
Oleksandr Ye. Kutikov, Secretary General
