The Foundation for Development of Ukraine conducted a poll to uncover “Perception of TB Problem by Ukrainians: Awareness, Updating, and Behavioural Aspects of Attitude” under the project “Stop TB in Ukraine”. The major findings and results were announced at the press-conference on 25 September.

The list of speakers at the press-conference included:
- Anatoliy Zabolotny, Director, SCM’s Corporate Foundation for Development of Ukraine
- Vlasta Shovkovskaya, External Communications Director, Foundation for Development of Ukraine
- Yevgeniy Kopat’ko, social expert, Research & Branding Group Company

Anatoliy Zabolotny, Director of SCM’s Corporate Foundation for Development of Ukraine, stated that the poll to study perception of TB problem by Ukrainians was held under the big national project, which will receive UAH 100m of investment from the Foundation. It targeted to:

- Find out what people know about the problem;
- Find out what information sources people use and, most important, the extent of trust in them;
- Find out attitude of Ukrainians to people with TB and the level of their stigmatization with the population;
- Find out the level of citizens’ awareness about organizations and foundations dealing with TB fight.

You may ask why all this is important for the Foundation? You can’t develop programs for systematic eradication of TB including raising awareness and improving the treatment system without this information because:

- first, the data obtained may reveal that most people don’t regard TB problem as important today. Despite relatively high awareness, Ukrainians believe the threat of their contraction is unreal (“it may happen to anyone but not to me”);
- second, one of the most disturbing factors is the lack of knowledge about early TB symptoms and consequently, lack of motivation for early diagnostics;
- third, the data show that the people don’t have a responsible attitude to timely TB diagnostics.

These are the most alarming signals. But at least the expert knowledge and expert potential of the Foundation is supported by the knowledge of the situation in the country now. We can apply the data to develop the Foundation’s strategy in future.

Vlasta Shovkovskaya, External Communications Director of the Foundation for Development of Ukraine, stressed that the survey had highlighted the major TB problems the population was anxious about.

The fact that Ukrainians believe doctors will significantly improve the awareness raising campaign in hospitals and medical out-patient facilities. Appropriate materials will be developed for this purpose. Educational establishments however need quite a different sort of information. People want to know more about the methods of TB prevention here. This audience should be informed about the ways of staying healthy and the impact of negative factors (smoking, alcohol abuse, unhealthy food) on TB contraction risk.

The survey also discovered the opinion of people that unfavourable social and economical situation as well as bad environmental conditions in Ukraine were the main factors encouraging TB spread. So, much needs to be done here in the process of planning of further awareness raising campaign.

Ukrainians are aware of the TB epidemic anyway and ready to fight against the problem as well as, most important, against its roots by consolidating their efforts.

TV, press, and communication with close friends were called the main sources of information about TB. That is why we will focus on TV making small social videos and social programs about health and healthy style of living. We will try to involve well-known people into the project, for example recognized athletes and showbiz stars.

One of the most important parts included announcement of the Hotline (8 800 503 0 800) performance launched by the Foundation on 1 August. The hot line has received 387 calls since its start, which is around 10 calls per day.

The most calls came from:
 Кiev and Kiev Region - 93 calls,
 Donetsk Region - 21 calls,
 Dnepropetrovsk Region - 16,
 Zaporozhye Region - 15,
 Lvov Region - 15.

People were mostly interested in the following issues:
  close contact with a TB-infected person
  poor financial and technical base of local TB service
  systematic problems in the health care area (corruption, understatement of statistics)
  disregard of laws in relation to patients

Yevgeniy Kopatko, social expert of Research & Branding Group Company presented detailed information on the poll “Perception of TB Problem by Ukrainians: Awareness, Updating, and Behavioural Aspects of Attitude”.

The project Stop TB in Ukraine is implemented by SCM’s Corporate Foundation for Development of Ukraine. The project was launched in 2007 and is designed for 5 years (2007-2011). Its budget comes up to UAH 100m.

Profile:
Foundation for Development of Ukraine is a non-profit organization established on 15 July 2005.
Foundation’s mission - The Foundation for Development of Ukraine establishes the basis for successful and steady development of Ukrainian society, investing into education of future generations, health of the nation, preservation and development of Ukrainian culture.
Areas of the Foundation activity include: contemporary education, health of the nation, cultural and targeted assistance
President of Foundation for Development of Ukraine is Rinat L. Akhmetov.