Survey shows there is a shortage of food and medicine in the Donbas
Sociologists have investigated the social well-being of the population of the Donetsk region.
Two years after the beginning of the armed conflict in eastern Ukraine, a quarter of the residents of the Donetsk region are still suffering from a shortage of medicines, one in five residents are in need of food products, and one in ten suffers from a lack of essential non-food items.
These shortages are reflected in the results of sociological research conducted in May-June 2016 in the Donetsk region by the Kiev International Institute of Sociology by the order of the Rinat Akhmetov Humanitarian Centre and Dopomozhemo TV.
The survey reveals that the most needy are the elderly, those older than 60. The worst situation is in small towns and villages in the territory not controlled by Ukraine.
"According to the main results of the research, people assess that the overall situation in which they live is better as compared to September 2014. At the moment, 60% of respondents find the situation difficult but tolerable. In 2014, less than half the population of the Donetsk region thought so. And only half of those considered their situation impossible," the Director General of the KIIS, Volodymyr Paniotto, informed.
The sociological survey suggests that 27% of the residents of the Donetsk region receive humanitarian assistance. In absolute figures, that is more than 750,000 people over the age of 18.
The residents of the Donbas estimate their financial situation to be worse than the Ukrainian population as a whole: 68% of the Ukrainian population and 73% of the residents of the Donetsk region have considerable difficulties buying food and clothes.
In the long-term perspective, the population of the Donetsk region is optimistic: 70% believe that within a decade, the problems of the Donbas will be resolved and the region will be restored.
The study, “Humanitarian map 2.0 - Map of expectations and attitudes,” was held from 29 May to 12 June 2016. Through telephone interviews 2,110 respondents over 18 years old from 100 settlements in the Donetsk region both in the controlled and uncontrolled territories were interviewed. It has been reported that Kiev will not cooperate with the LDNR on the payment of pensions.