Children’s health is an absolute priority for Ukraine. This was emphasised by Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal in his speech at the European Regional School Meals Summit, which is taking place in Kyiv on 12-13 November.

According to the Head of Government, even before the full-scale war, a comprehensive school meals reform was launched in Ukraine on the initiative of First Lady Olena Zelenska. And despite the severe challenges of wartime, the state has not stopped it, but is accelerating it.

During his speech, the Prime Minister spoke about three key areas that the Government was focusing on in this reform.

“The first area is to reach as many children as possible. As of today, 1.8 million secondary school students are provided with meals. About half of them eat free hot breakfasts or lunches at the expense of funds provided by the state. Starting this academic year, free hot meals will be available to all primary school students. For this purpose, in 2024, the Government allocated UAH 2 billion to the local level,” said Denys Shmyhal.

The second area is nutritional balance and quality. According to the Prime Minister, a lot of work has been done to develop a quality school menu. It is based on health benefits and inclusiveness, taking into account the specific dietary needs of each child.

“There are changes in food procurement. We are focusing on local producers, and thus stimulating farming and entrepreneurship,” the Head of Government noted.

The third area of focus identified by the Prime Minister is the infrastructure for healthy food. A systematic modernisation of school canteens, which have not been renovated for decades, is underway in all regions of Ukraine.

“We have allocated UAH 1.5 billion for the overhaul of school canteens and the purchase of modern equipment. We are implementing 172 projects that will create comfortable cooking and eating conditions for more than 150,000 students,” said Denys Shmyhal.

According to the Prime Minister, the Government also has ambitious plans for the future. In 2025-2027, it is planned to modernise more than 800 canteens and create 12 kitchen factories that will deliver food to a number of schools and kindergartens. A pilot project of such a factory has already been implemented in Bucha, Kyiv region.

“Food is an important part of success in education and in life. That is why we first brought together many different institutions at the same time: the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Education and Science, the Ministry of Economy, representatives of NGOs, including food experts, chefs, doctors, nutritionists, dietitians – and then we started to act, step by step,” said First Lady of Ukraine Olena Zelenska.

Denys Shmyhal expressed his gratitude to Olena Zelenska for initiating and coordinating the entire reform, to ministries, agencies, local authorities for taking concrete steps in its implementation, and to foreign partners for their assistance and solidarity.