Press Releases 2023

Details

05.01.2023

This winter is hitting the people of Ukraine particularly hard. Darkness and cold, shortages of electricity and food, and a constant threat of military aggression from the Russian Federation.

The Borstel Research Center maintains an academic partnership with V.N. Karazin Kharkiv National University in eastern Ukraine to research and combat tuberculosis. With about 12,000 students and about 1,300 employees, V.N. Karazin Kharkiv National University is one of the most important universities in Ukraine. On March 02, 2022, central university buildings were largely destroyed by Russian bombs.

Even before the war, the Kharkiv region had a particularly large number of people suffering from a form of tuberculosis that is almost impossible to cure with conventional drugs, as the bacteria are resistant to the drugs used in standard therapy. More than 1/3 of tuberculosis patients in Kharkiv have multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB), many of them with so-called extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB), for which the chances of cure are particularly poor.

The consequences of the war have further worsened the care situation for tuberculosis patients in Ukraine, as many doctors have now left the country. Doctors such as Dr. Olha Konstantynovska, Dr. Tetiana Synenko and Dr. Petro Poteiko have remained in Kharkiv and are caring for their patients in this difficult situation. Through them, Research Center Borstel continues to maintain contact.

Thanks to very generous donations from the Rotary Club Stormarn, buses with aid supplies have already been delivered twice to Сommunal non-profit enterprise of the Kharkiv Regional Council "Regional antituberculosis dispensary №1" (Director – Dr. Iryna Kalmykova), one of the clinical and research partners of V.N. Karazin Kharkiv National University. Among them urgently needed medicines and medical equipment.

"Many sincere thanks to the great willingness of Rotarians to help! This help is making a difference for our partners in Kharkiv. I have great respect for the colleagues who continue to work for their patients on site under difficult conditions," says Professor Christoph Lange, Medical Director at Forschungszentrum Borstel. "Hopefully this war will be over soon!"

A lightbox for the diagnosis of x-rays from the former Medical Clinic of the Research Center Borstel found a new home in Kharkiv.

Contact:

Prof. Dr. med. Dr. h.c. Christoph Lange 
Medical Director, Research Center Borstel, Leibniz Lung Center 
Professor of Respiratory Medicine & International Health, University of Lübeck
Parkallee 35
D-23845 Borstel
Germany

T +49 4537 188 3321/0
F +49 4537 188 6030
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.