A Japanese pediatrician has launched a website in Ukrainian and three other languages to help caregivers and children fleeing Russia's invasion of Ukraine deal with the challenges they face in places of shelter such as limited water or warmth.
The site, which is in Ukrainian, Polish, English and Japanese, compiles information on topics including children's mental health care, treating diarrhea, baby hygiene, and preventing dehydration and infectious diseases.
Masahiko Sakamoto, the 44-year-old pediatrician from Saku Central Hospital Advanced Care Center in the central Japan prefecture of Nagano, said he could not view the situation in Ukraine as something that was just happening in a foreign land.
He saw a news report in late February detailing how a large group of children from Ukraine were sheltering in Krakow, a Polish city he had himself once visited while studying in Poland for four months during his university days as an international exchange student.
To help such children, he came up with the idea of using the information from a Japanese pediatric care site which he oversees. Sakamoto called on a Polish acquaintance to join his effort, and within the day two Ukrainians had offered to help with translation.
The website at https://cpc-ua.com, which says "We stand with Ukraine and its people," was created in four days with the cooperation of others including experts on disaster medicine and mental health care in Japan.
The website also uses information that was originally compiled to help natural disaster victims in Japan.
The pediatrician said the Japan International Cooperation Agency, a government-backed aid agency, and other nonprofit organizations working in Ukraine's neighboring countries have told him of their intention to use the website.
It has also been introduced by the Ukrainian and Bulgarian embassies in Japan via Twitter.
Sakamoto says he wants Ukrainian refugees to know that "There are people who care about you from the other side of the planet."
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