ABOUT US

Dear colleagues!

We have been living with Chernobyl catastrophe consequences 20 years already. This multinational disaster had its impact on destinies of millions peoples fates as well as the environment, resulted in huge economic expenses.
The Chernobyl NPP accident resulted in release of 50-200 million Сi of various radiotoxic isotopes. 17 European countries with total territory of 207,5 thousand square kilometers are contaminated with Cesium, density - 1 Ci per square kilometers. Belarus, Ukraine and European part of Russian Federation are the most contaminated. Due to official information there were more than 9 000 000 survivors and 404 000 were evacuated and resettled because of the high level of radioactive contamination. More than 830 000 people from all regions of the former USSR in 1986-1990 were involved in the clean-up works in the 30-kilometer exclusion zone. 600 000 out of them were the military. They were fighting the radioactive fire, building the sarcophagus over the 4-th destructed block of Chernobyl NPP, deactivating the production platform, burying radioactive materials and equipment - the were the first people who were overcoming the consequences immediately after the accident. Some of the activities on overcoming the Chernobyl accident consequences are still in process. These activities have carried out under extremely hard conditions so that military rules were followed.
Because of the fact that many of those who took pats on overcoming the catastrophe aftermath as well as the general population in the area were exposed to significant radiation doses the health effects of this particular catastrophe appeared to be extremely serious. Besides the chronicle irradiation of population still continues due to both internal and external sources – long-living radioactive cesium, strontium and plutonium.
Physicians and scientists provided urgent medical aid as well as researched radiobiological effects starting from the very first days after the Chernobyl accident. Special contribution was made by military doctors in early after the accident. Within first five years after the catastrophe this important work has been done under top secrecy. The Soviet government used secrecy both to keep back the real scale of the accident and to prevent panic among the population. That’s why there are no accurate data concerning the number of over-irradiated survivors and deaths from irradiation exposure so far.
Decay of the USSR contributed to the revealing of the real facts regarding Chernobyl to the world and to passing laws on social protection of the survivors as well as to start of wide medical-biological research. However due to the of long-lasting social-economical crises in three most affected countries - Belarus, Russian Federation and Ukraine - research was not carries out on a sufficient scale and this impeded proper estimation of the accident aftereffects. In 1990 World Health Organization (WHO) managed to take away secrecy from the Chernobyl NPP accident consequences. The WHO Programme “IPHECA” on investigating health effects of the Chernobyl accident started its implementation. The “IPHECA” programme resulted in revealing true levels of the accident for the whole world though organizing research in major areas of radiation medicine and starting wide-world cooperation. Doctor Hiroshi Nakadjima, who was the WHO head at the time, contributed significantly successful implementation of the “IPHECA” Programme. In 1995 the programme results were presented and discussed in Geneva international conference. In following years WHO and other UN Agencies (UNDP, UNSCEAR, IAEA, UNICEF), UNESCO, as well as European Union, Governments of USA, Germany, France, Japan, Cuba and Sasakawa Memorial Foundation (Japan) permanently supported international research of Chernobyl accident humanitarian consequences. It is hardly can be estimated Moral and substantial support of international foreign NGOs could hardly be underestimated. The same could be stated regarding financial and industrial circles, individual citizens from different countries, who provided and still are providing assistance to affected children and people disabled because of Chernobyl accident.
Association “Physicians of Chernobyl” in close cooperation with NGOs organized six international conferences, where physicians and scientists from 47 countries participated. These conferences provide an excellent opportunity to openly discuss scientific results and exchange the gained experience. Decisions of the 2-nd International Conference of 1998 resulted in foundation of International Journal of Radiation Medicine.
Today the major health risks for the survivors are revealed. These are - dramatic increase in thyroid cancer and other cancers, leukemia, congenital pathologies in organism development, increase in non-neoplastic and multifactorial diseases and abnormalities in mental health. There exists a deep concern as for the long-lasting genetic changes and how they can influence the further generations’ health.
Familiarizing yourself with the materials on our web-site you can find answers on questions concerning Chernobyl from the primary sources, get informed on works of many of our outstanding colleagues, who persistently despite permanent pressure of nuclear lobby and politicized officials, continue to conduct exclusively important research to define the true scale of Chernobyl catastrophe.

Professor Angelina I. Nyagu
President of Association "Physicians of Chernobyl"

Idea, aims, resources:

The association "Physicians of Chernobyl" is a humanitarian organisation, which was registered in 1990 in the Ukraine, the epicentre of the Chernobyl disaster. It does not receive any financial support from the government no from international and lobby organisations.
Thus the independence in the assessment of the consequences of the Chernobyl disaster and in the association's objective is sustained. Citizens of the Ukraine as well as foreigners, who take part in this field of activity, can become members of this association: physicians, scientists, journalists and other people, who realise humanitarian goals of the association.
Tasks of the association:
• Protection of the health of people who suffer from the harmful impact of technogene accidents as well as from ecological and social disasters, and protection of their social and economic rights
• assistance for citizens who suffer from the consequences of the Chernobyl disaster
• support in the investigation of medical, socio-psychological, radio-biological consequences of the Chernobyl disaster and of other nuclear accidents evoked by technical errors
• support in the elaboration and introduction of effective methods for diagnosis and treatment of people affected by the Chernobyl disaster
• defence of the economic and social rights of the people affected by the Chernobyl disaster
• co-operation in the realisation of medical, psychological and social rehabilitation and reintegration of citizens who have suffered damages from the Chernobyl disaster
• educational activity by organising international conferences together with international organisations: WHO, UN, UNESCO, IAEA and others
• publication of the bilingual "International Journal of Radiation Medicine" (Russian and English)
• granting of loans for scientists and others.