Lyubov Yevtushok, M.D.
Head of the Executive Committee

The International Children's OMNI-Net is a non-for-profit, non-government organization in Ukraine dedicated to the prevention and care of developmental disorders and birth defects. It was officially registered by the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine on December 30, 2004. Today OMNI-Net consists of a network of 5 OMNI-Net resource centers in Rivne, Lutsk, Kherson, Khmelnytsky and Simferopol.

The OMNI-Net incorporation was facilitated by the Ukrainian-American Birth Defects Program, funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and University of South Alabama (Mobile, Al, USA). Director of the Program is Prof. W. Wertelecki, Head of the University of South Alabama Department of Medical Genetics, Corresponding Member of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences, Doctor Honoris-Causa of the "Kyiv-Mohyla Academy" University.

OMNI-Net founders - Ukrainian-American
Birth Defects Program team

Main tasks of the OMNI-Net organization include promoting and collaboration in:

OMNI-Center is an informational resource center. It gives access to physicians, parents of BD children and interested public to contemporary information printed and electronic; it participates in conducting telemedical consultations; gives access to geneticists, neonatologists, computer specialists and English-speaking information officers. Each OMNI-Center is equipped with computers, scanners, copy-machines, digital photo and video cameras, and multimedia projectors. Each OMNI-Centers also serve as a base for training programs.

OMNI-Center visitors have access to databases related to birth defects, such as "I.B.I.S (International Birth Defects Information Systems)" - rather popular web-site. OMNI-Centers develop materials for I.B.I.S. in Ukrainian.

All OMNI-Centers are joined into the OMNI-Center network to share resources and link different regions in Ukraine.

The OMNI-Net has established a population based birth defects surveillance systems in their respective oblasts. Monitoring data is reported to the International Clearinghouse for Birth Defects Monitoring Systems (ICBDMS). The results demonstrate an epidemic of spina bifida in Ukraine.

Concurrently, OMNI-Net has established a population based neonatal registry in two oblasts. The neonatal data provides a basis for managing a variety of maternal-child health programs.

The OMNI-Net was instrumental in establishing the "Pahinets Early Intervention Educational and Social Rehabilitation Center for Special Needs Children", located in the city of Rivne. This model center was created by the City of Rivne in partnership with the Rivne OMNI-Center, the local Association of Special Needs Children Parents, the Rivne Education Department and international foundations plus generous support from the Ukraine Special Needs Orphanages Fund (USA) and Ukrainian-American Birth Defects Program.

Currently, the Ukrainian OMNI-Net is engaged in exchanges with counterparts in other countries, Moldova, Poland, Lithuania, Belarus, Slovakia, USA, in particular, regarding their potential role in the network.

We emphasize a collaboration with the International Competition for Young Pianists in Memory of Vladimir Horowitz. Concerts by young competition prize-winners are offered under the aegis of the Ukrainian-American Birth Defects Program and the OMNI-Net. Such concerts took place in Kyiv, Moscow, Geneva, Paris, Atlanta, New York and Mobile (USA). Soon the concerts will be held in Ukraine and cities of USA under the aegis of UNICEF to promote birth defects prevention.

The OMNI-Net seeks to establish contacts with partners and experts with the aim to expand its collaborative programs.