INTERNATIONAL YEAR OF MEDICAL AND SOCIAL WORKERS IN UKRAINE: RECOGNITION OF THE ROLE IN THE FIGHT AGAINST THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC AND PROTECTING HEALTH AND WELL-BEING.

Objective: The aim: Defining the role of health workers and problems in combating the COVID-19 pandemic, outlining ways to protect health and safety in the workplace.

Patients And Methods: Materials and methods: The following methods were used: content analysis of international and domestic legal documents of state and sectoral level on the problem of functioning and social protection of medical and social workers in the COVID-19 pandemic and statistical reporting on the dynamics of their number and wages.

Conclusion: Conclusions: With the advent of COVID-19, tensions in the work of medical staff have increased, which has contributed to a reduction in the number of health workers in Ukraine due to death, permanent disability, termination / change of professional activity and migration of medical personnel. It has been found that the slow growth of wages is inadequate to carry out socially necessary activities with a risk to life and health. Fair pay for health and social workers is a necessary but not sufficient component of measures to combat the COVID-19 pandemic at the present stage. The International Year of Health and Social Workers should be an opportunity to draw attention to the need to increase investment in education, training and social protection of these professionals and to minimize the risks posed by the pandemic to the economy and development of countries and people's lives.