The home-visiting nurses support mothers from pregnancy until the baby is three years old

The village of Kyshyn is in the north of Zhytomyr region, a 30-minute drive through woodlands from the nearest town.

The nurse, Sophiia Lukianenko, is rushing in a car to the place where mother Svitlana and her 5-month-old son Bohdan, affectionately called Bodia, are waiting for her. While Svitlana’s older son is at kindergarten, the nurse starts examining Bodia, who, after seeing her, smiles straightaway. In addition to the five universal visits, Sophiia is also making progressive visits to this family because they have additional needs that require support.

“When I gave birth to my second child, I noticed that I became much more anxious. I felt some symptoms of postpartum depression. A constant fear and concern overwhelmed me. It seemed like everything I was doing with the baby was wrong, which only increased my anxiety". 

"And this was despite having gone through the same experience five years ago. This state might have intensified by the ongoing hostilities in the country”, shares 36-year-old Svitlana.

Even though Svitlana doesn’t live alone and is supported in caring for the baby by her husband as well as her parents, who live with them, she still has many questions and concerns. Is the baby eating enough? Is it developing well? Are there any health risks?

Nurse Sophiia, who always stays in touch by phone as well, eagerly answers all of these questions: “We get in touch even on Viber,” Svitlana says. “Thanks to her, I learned about the ‘purple crying’ phase — a period of intense crying in babies under five months. Just understanding the reasons behind what’s happening with my baby already calms me down. I’m grateful for this support”, shares the mother of two boys.

Sophiia Lukianenko joined the home visiting programme in April 2023, after completing the necessary training, and now makes home visits to 74 families in her district. Having such an extensive experience working with families, Sophiia shares the most important insights:

“It might seem that a nurse’s work begins after the baby is born, but that’s not entirely true. The first thing I always pay attention to is the emotional state during pregnancy. In this regard, the first home visit during the third trimester of pregnancy foreseen by the Home visiting programme is very helpful. This visit allows us to identify in advance potential issues and provide the family with the necessary support”.

Thus, Sophiia notes that it was during the prenatal visit that she noticed Svitlana's tendency towards increased anxiety. The mother was concerned about what would await her after the baby’s birth. After the delivery, this condition even worsened: “Svitlana shared that with the arrival of her second child, it was as if she forgot everything she had known before. In the first visits after the birth, I noticed very high anxiety and worry about the baby’s condition, even in the situations where there was no reason for concern. Svitlana constantly doubted whether she was a good mother. That’s when I realized these were the first ‘warning signs’ of postpartum depression”, recalls the nurse.

Having noticed these symptoms, the nurse immediately carried out a survey with the mother using the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale. Together with the family doctor, she developed an individualized plan to monitor the mother's condition. Now, in the fifth month of visits, the nurse notes positive dynamics: the mother has become much calmer and emotionally more stable. This, in turn, has a positive impact on the baby. Sophiia and her colleagues support and refer families to health facilities to address health related issues but also overcome the emotional challenges that arise in the postpartum period.

In addition to working actively with families, Sophiia also runs training sessions for the home visiting programme, sharing her experience with colleagues who are just starting to make visits to families.

The Home visiting programme is implemented by the Ministry of Health of Ukraine together with UNICEF, with the support of the Government of Japan, the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) through the German Development Bank (KFW), and Citibank.

Thanks to the support from Citibank, almost 70 nurses from the Zhytomyr region had training in 2024 under the home visiting programme and are now making home visits to families with children up to 3 years old.

Home visiting nurses work in the city of Kyiv and across Ukraine: in Zhytomyr, Donetsk, Kirovohrad, Dnipro, Kyiv, Lviv, Poltava, Volyn, Rivne, Zakarpattia, Kharkiv, Mykolaiv, Zaporizhzhia, Chernihiv and Odesa regions, where nurses from more than 200 primary healthcare facilities provide home-based early childhood development services to more than 12,000 of children from 0 to 3 yo and more than 22,000 caregivers.

Thanks to the support from Citibank, almost 70 nurses from the Zhytomyr region had training in 2024 under the home visiting programme and are now making home visits to families with children up to 3 years old.