Psychosocial support for cancer patients in Moldova is poorly developed. Long-termed stays in hospital and the handling with a diagnosis like cancer places children ahead of disproportional challenges, regarding their age and their mental conditions. The importance of psychological support for ill children and family members in Moldova is underestimated and, as a result, there is an acute deficit not only of psychological services in educational institutions but also of employment possibilities for qualified personnel. Approaches for so called early detections of complicacies in long-term personal development of children suffering of cancer are poorly advanced. Cooperation and coordination among involved personnel lack of a comprehensive understanding of immanent needs and requirements.

The HOPE’87 project aimed at improving the know-how and experience of specialised medical, educational and psychological personnel. On the one hand, to increase their chances of employability on the Moldavian labour market, on the other hand, and more importantly, to raise the chances of survival of the children by strengthenging the infrastructural and personnel capacities at the Institute of Oncology. It aimed furthermore at facilitating the process of reintegration of children into school and social life, through vocational education and training for the youth, after finishing the treatment process in the hospital.

In order to reach these objectives, it was necessary to establish an educational unit at the Institute of Oncology, to restore, repair and renovate necessary infrastructure, to provide complimentary education for the pedagogical and psychological staff for more qualified support of the hospitalised children and to enhance the technical skills of the medical staff.

Project Background: 

The Republic of Moldova is still one of Europe’s poorest nations today. The current social and economic situation is characterised by low incomes, a decrease of the industrial and agricultural production and high levels of unemployment. These factors have created a lot of difficulties for the development and functioning of the national health care and educational systems in Moldova. Not only qualified personnel are scarce in these sectors. Employment possibilities for highly qualified personnel are equally scarce because the national medical and educational standards are far below international standards, resulting in an underestimation of the importance of specialised knowledge.

There is a great lack of experience and therefore knowledge about the special pedagogical and educational needs of hospitalised children in general and those suffering from malignant tumours in particular. If educational support is available, teachers are not accordingly trained and they have no guiding principles they can refer to when working in hospitals with children suffering from malignant tumours.