About Olena Yelizarova
I am a Leading Researcher at the State Institution “Marzieiev Institute for Public Health of the National Academy of Medical Sciences of Ukraine”. A physician by training, with specializations in medical genetics and medical psychology, I work at the intersection of public health, child and adolescent health, mental health, and population-based research. My research focuses on how children, families, schools, and communities adapt to prolonged social disruption, including the COVID-19 pandemic and russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine, with particular attention to community-level mental health support, pathways to care, and the ways families recognize and respond to children’s distress.
Recent Comments
Your emphasis on consistent documentation is especially important. Without reliable registration and monitoring, birth defects remain visible mainly as individual clinical tragedies, but not as a measurable public health burden.
Thank you for raising this important issue and for sharing such a personal and formative clinical experience.
This topic is also very close to my own professional path. My PhD research was devoted to the frequency of congenital anomalies among live births in Ukraine, and it served as a pilot study for the implementation of a Genetic Monitoring Programme. That programme no longer operates in its original form, but the work done during that period became part of a much longer and very difficult path toward systematic early detection of hereditary and congenital conditions.
In Ukraine, this path has taken almost two decades and has contributed to the development of neonatal screening and prenatal testing/diagnostic approaches aimed at earlier diagnosis, timely treatment, and prevention where possible. It was not a quick or simple process, and your post is an important reminder that behind every public health programme there are years of clinical observation, local data collection, advocacy, and persistence.
I fully agree that we still need stronger awareness, earlier diagnosis, better referral pathways, and more accessible specialized care for children with birth defects and their families.
Ms Olena and cols
One of the strongest aspects of this work is the distinction between symptom recognition and recognition of the need for professional support. In health systems, we often assume that identifying distress naturally leads to care-seeking, but the pathway is far more complex.
The concept of the “Symptom–Need Interpretation Gap” is particularly relevant because it highlights how access to care depends not only on service availability, but also on trust, stigma, cultural interpretation, family perception, and the structure of referral networks.
This discussion extends far beyond wartime Ukraine. Many health systems face similar challenges: mental health becomes increasingly visible, yet the pathways connecting schools, families, primary care, and specialized support remain fragmented or fragile.
An important contribution of this paper is showing that children’s mental health cannot be understood only at the individual level. It is deeply connected to community structures, social support, institutional coordination, and the ability of systems to transform recognition into effective access to care.
Excellent and highly relevant work.
Dear Dr Rodrigues Filho,
Thank you very much for your thoughtful and generous comment. It means a lot to know that the main message of our work resonated with you.
I am sincerely grateful for your words and for reading our work so attentively.
Olena