1. BACKGROUND
SI “O.M. Marzieiev Institute for Public Health (IPH), National Academy of Medical Sciences of Ukraine” (formerly the Scientific-Research Institute (SRI) for General and Municipal Hygiene, Ministry of Public Health of Ukraine) was established in 1931. Creation and development of the Institute was Oleksandr Marzieiev’s personal merit, who headed it for 25 years. In 1967 the Institute was named after this prominent scientist-hygienist.
Oleksandr Marzieiev was a founder of sanitary-epidemiological service of the country. He identified progressive forms and ways of cooperation between sanitary-and -epidemiological stations’ practitioners and scientists of the Institute.
Except A. Marzieiev (1931-1956) the Institute was headed by D. Kaliuzhnyi (1956 1971), Corresponding Member of the Academy of Medical Sciences (AMS) of Ukraine, M. Shandala (1971-1990), Academician of the AMS of USSR. Since 1990 the Institute is headed by A. Serdiuk, Merited Scientist of Ukraine, Academician of the National Academy of Medical Sciences of Ukraine, professor.
In different years the known scientists-hygienists worked at this scientific institution, they are: V. Zhabotynskyi, Doctor of Medical Sciences, professors R. Habovych, N. Kvitnytska, M. Kryzhanivska, V. Palhov, I. Mukhin, S. Naishtein, Y. Kostovetskyi, N. Yanysheva, L. Hryhorieva, V. Prysiazhniuk. Now their work is continuing with dignity by professors V. Akimenko, O. Voloshchenko, Yu. Dumanskyi, I. Chernychenko and others.
Over all period of its existence the Institute’s activity was closely linked to the needs and requirements of the population of Ukraine, construction of national economy. Its first scientific task was rehabilitation and reconstruction of the Donetsk region of the country, it testified about a great confidence to the scientists and experts that were trusted to elaborate the new hygienic aspects of the construction of cities and villages in Ukraine.
After World War II the Institute experts examined sanitary state of the liberated cities, the consequences of destruction and participated in the development of measures of rebuilding of national economy, purification of the settlements, improvement of residential, industrial and public buildings, and studied the levels of air pollution, drinking and waste water contamination.
In subsequent years the research work of our specialists was aimed at the establishing of general patterns of physical and chemical environmental factors, their impact on health and living conditions of the population and improvement of methodology for hygienic standardization and development of science-based hygienic recommendations for environmental sanitation and the prevention of adverse effects of scientific-and-technological progress.
Besides the problems of municipal hygiene, a considerable attention was given to the health problems of children and adolescents, sanitary microbiology and radiation hygiene.
In 1959 the Public Health Organization Department was created at the Institute, where the research on social hygiene and organization of health care, history of medicine was performed. Later (in 1989) it became the basis for the creation of the Kiev Scientific-Research Institute for Social Hygiene and Public Health Administration, Ministry of Public Health of Ukraine.
Since 1970 in the former USSR the Institute was a leader in the development of two the most significant problems - "Environmental Hygiene" and "Hygiene of Physical Factors." Board of the Administration of the Scientific Society of Hygienists of Ukraine was created on the basis of the Institute. It brings together scientists and sanitarians. There are specialized committees of the Ministry of Public Health of Ukraine for the development of the standard documents in the sphere of municipal hygiene and also children’s and adolescents’ hygiene.
Determination of the principles, criteria and methods for the integrated assessment of the damage for the health of population, caused by the environmental pollution, was an important achievement of those years.
The scientists of the Institute were the first in the world who has developed a scientific basis for hygienic regulation of the chemical carcinogens. The large-scale complex studies on many aspects of hygiene of regional planning and town-planning were carried out, sanitary state of large and small rivers of Ukraine was estimated. A strategy of sanitary purification of the settlements was created in terms of the results of their research.
Over 17 years (1972-1990) the professionals of the Institute were engaged in one of three scientific programs of the Soviet-American cooperation in the field of medicine, it evidenced about their high scientific level.
In 1981 the Institute was awarded the Order of the Red Labour Banner for the outstanding achievements in the field of environment protection and protection of the health of the population of Ukraine, as well as on the occasion of the 50-th anniversary of its foundation.
From the first days of the accident at the Chornobyl NPP the Institute’s staff participated in the liquidation of its consequences. In the research processes the characteristic of radiation pollution of the environment and its impact on the health of the population was presented, effective equivalent doses of external and internal exposure of the inhabitants of the zone of strict control were calculated. A number of practical recommendations for the safety of the population and people who work in the Chornobyl zone have been prepared. For the first time in Ukraine a conception of the creation of an integrated control system for safe operation of nuclear power plants and counter the emergence of radiation accidents based on the medical and scientific principles was established.
Specialists of the Institute were directly involved in the liquidation of the consequences of extraordinary situations, such as outbreaks of cholera in the Odessa and the Mykolaiv regions, floods in the Zakarpattia region. They evaluated and predicted a course of sanitary situations, which formed as a result of children’s morbidity in the city of Chernivtsi, hepatitis A morbidity among the residents of the city of Sukhodolsk, the Lugansk region, infectious morbidity and deterioration of water quality in the city of Kremenchuh, the Poltava region, etc.
In 1989 the Republic Scientific Hygienic Center was organized on the basis of the Kyiv Research Institute for General and Municipal Hygiene (since 1992 - Ukrainian Scientific Center of Hygiene). Except the Research Institute of General and Municipal Hygiene it contained the Research Institute for Food Hygiene and the Ukrainian Scientific Center of Medical Genetics. Later the two last left the Center.
By the Governmental Decree of October 13, 2000 the Center was renamed to O.M. Marzieiev Institute for Hygiene and Medical Ecology and was subordinated to the Academy of Medical Sciences of Ukraine.
The experience of Institute’s scientists and summarized data of the international legislative documents were taken into account at the development of the effective legislation of the Independent Ukraine: Laws "About Providing Sanitary and Epidemiological Population Welfare", "About Atmosphere Air Protection", "About Planning and Building of the Territory", "Water Code". The IHME experts help in legislative activity not only the Supreme Soviet. They are the co-authors of the documents of the Cabinet of Ministers, the Ministries and the Departments on many problems in medicine, hygiene and environmental protection.
Conducting of the research on the harmful factors’ regulation in the environmental objects (air, water, soil) became a significant scientific achievement of the IHME hygienists. Only in the last 25 years about 200 sanitary rules and regulations, state standards, 250 hygienic standards, about 500 scientific-methodological materials were developed.
The Institute’s scientists are the initiators, active developers and implementers of the National Programs "Children of Ukraine", "National Program of Environmental Rehabilitation of the Dnipro River Basin and Improvement of the Quality of Drinking Water", "National Action Plan for Environmental Hygiene as Part of the European Process," "Target-Oriented Complex Program of Genetic Monitoring in Ukraine "and others. According to the Resolution of the Cabinet of Minister of Ukraine of 10.01.2002 ¹ 14 the Institute of Hygiene and Medical Ecology defined as a leading institution for the realization of the Interdepartmental complex program "Health of Nation" for 2002-2011. According to the order of the Academy of Medical Sciences of Ukraine of 15.04.2004 ¹ 5 a scientific, scientific-coordinative and organization-methodical guidance for the realization of the assignments of National Program "Drinking Water of Ukraine" for 2006-2020 was entrusted to the Institute for Hygiene and Medical Ecology.
Since the declaration of Independence a system of public health in Ukraine has been almost preserved in the unchangeable state. The isolated reforming measures only intensified a crisis in medical sphere. Taking this into account, a complex reform in the sphere of public health is urgent. It provides measures used by the state for the prevention of the diseases and the preservation of the health of its citizens.
Launched reforms in public health, namely the development of the system of public health in Ukraine, changed also a scientific activity of the Institute. For ensuring of the scientific support of the development of public health service, consolidation of the priority of preventive direction in the sphere of public health, Presidium of the National Academy of Medical Sciences of Ukraine renamed the State Institution “O.M. Marzieiev Institute for Hygiene and Medical Ecology, NAMSU” into the State Institution “O.M. Marzieiev Institute for Public Health, NAMSU” in its Resolution of April 29, 2015. Not only the name of the Institute was changed but structural transformation and modernization of the activity directions took place.
Currently the O.M. Marzieiev Institute for Public Health has 26 academic departments in its structure (5 departments and 21 laboratories), clinic of laboratory animals, scientific library with a fund of about 50,000 originals of national and foreign printed matter.
There are 316 specialists at the Institute, among them are 190 scientists (including 31 Doctors and 62 Candidates of Sciences). The experts of the Institute for Hygiene and Medical Ecology are the performers of more than three-quarters of the scientific investigations on the municipal hygiene issues made in Ukraine. The hundred thousands of examinations were performed, about 100 inventions were made, more than 200 books and directories were published. Annually about 400 scientific papers are published in Ukrainian and international scientific journals.
For all period of its existence 69 Doctors and 198 Candidates of Sciences were trained at the Institute of Hygiene and Medical Ecology. Our experts guided the dissertations of the scientists from many republics of the former USSR. In 1993 a specialized Council for defense of doctoral and candidate’s theses in hygiene (Medical and Biological Sciences) and Ecology (Medical Sciences) were established.
The journal "Environment and Health" and the collection of scientific papers "Hygiene of the Settlements" are edited at the Institute for Hygiene and Medical Ecology.
2. MERITED SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY WORKERS OF UKRAINE
Oleksandr Marzieiev – the founder of the Institute, Director of the Institute
in 1931 – 1956
Denys Kaliuzhnyi – Director of the Institute in 1956 – 1971
Mykhailo Shandala - Director of the Institute in 1971 – 1990
Andrii Serdiuk - Director of the Institute since 1990
Oleh Voloshchenko – Head of the Laboratory (Deputy Director in 1977 – 2000)
Ninel Yanysheva - Head of the Laboratory in 1960 - 1992
Yurii Dumanskyi -- Head of the Laboratory in 1965 - 2014
Ludmyla Hryhorieva - Head of the Laboratory in 1964 - 1993
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