How the Merck Manuals team is helping first responders in Ukraine
Commentary04/27/22 By Merck Manuals
The MSD Manuals are available in 12 languages and are now publishing in a thirteenth: Ukrainian. 

In response to an urgent request from the MSD Ukraine team to help medical professionals deliver the best care during the invasion of Ukraine, The Manuals team has launched an all-hands-on-deck effort to create the new translation in record time. The first Ukrainian language content was released on April 8, and a dedicated Ukrainian site went live on April 25.

“The volume of traumatic injuries is overwhelming, and care is taking place outside usual medical settings. Health care professionals are called on to deliver care whenever and wherever it is needed,” said Dr. Sandy Falk, editor-in-chief, The MSD Manuals. “Doctors are dealing not just with injuries, but also with providing acute care for common conditions, like myocardial infarction or childbirth. The Manuals content is ideal as a resource in this kind of situation, and we want to help in any way we can.” 

The Manuals are a comprehensive medical information source covering thousands of topics in all fields of medicine, and they’re available for free to professionals and patients around the world.

The team got to work on the Ukrainian translation when colleagues in Global Medical Affairs told them about the urgent need for medical information among first responders dealing with a wide array of emergencies. 
  
The Manuals team is working on the project with translators, as well as colleagues in Ukraine. They began with a chapter on responding to mass injury events, now available as a PDF download on The MSD Manuals sites, and they launched the Ukrainian website just two weeks later. 

“Normally, a project like this would take six to nine months,” said Melissa Adams, director, awareness and partnerships. “This time around, the team is aiming to have the first 25 chapters translated and published online within two to three weeks.”
  
“The hybrid Ukrainian/English translation model is a first for us, and The Manuals team has done an amazing job innovating at a rapid pace,” said Michael DeFerrari, director, digital publishing. 

Adams added, “This effort shows the resilience of our company and how we come together to help in times of crisis.”

Visit msdmanuals.com and click on the yellow banner at the bottom of the page to download the Ukrainian translation, or visit msdmanuals.com and click on the language drop-down menu to visit the Ukrainian site. 
Ukraine home page