On January 18, 2017 Andriy Penkov, member of Kharkiv expert group in medical reform, President of the Ukrainian-German Medical Association, pediatrician of the highest category, MD, and Olena Riga, professor of the Pediatrics and Neonatology department at the Kharkiv National Medical University, MD, started the second training session on palliative care for children at the Kharkiv Regional Specialized Baby Home # 1.

Andriy Penkov told the participants about basic clinical conditions in pediatric palliative care. He shared his experience and his international observations. Baby home’s personnel discussed and compared different methods of diagnosis and treatment of major clinical conditions in children's palliative care, such as anorexia, diarrhea, dyspnea, cough, gastroesophageal reflux and others.

Olena Riga acquainted trainees with the particularities of perinatal palliative care. The trainer said that children and their families should receive the best care and support till the end and after. Life expectancy of children with terminal illness can vary from minutes to weeks, months, and years. Under any circumstances, care and support must always be adapted to the child and family needs. Participants had understood the importance of family support and significance of preserving memories of the child. Together with Olena Riga trainees discussed several clinical cases in perinatal palliative, considered the proposed recommendations for prevention and management of pain in the neonate.

The training session is conducted under the Project “Creating a new model of family-and-community oriented services for children with special needs” supported by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).