Chernobyl: Health and Social rehabilitation

The Chernobyl catastrophe and the ensuing enormous social, economic and environmental consequences in the affected regions present until today a major challenge. After the catastrophe in 1986 76% of radioactive precipitation fell on the area of Belarus and contaminated 23% of its territory. Around 1.3 million people continue to live in the contaminated area. The necessity of allocating resources to deal with the consequences has weighed heavily on the state budget taking up to 18 billion USD in the last 20 years. Nowadays the affected regions leg behind in social and economic development, this tendency being especially pronounced in the rural areas, where it leads to numerous social problems.

The goal of SDC (Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation) cooperation with Belarus within the focus area “Health and Social Rehabilitation” is to improve the health and living conditions of the most deprived groups in the Chernobyl affected regions of Belarus. The activities are concentrated mainly in the Gomel and Mogilev Regions of the Republic that suffered most from the consequences of the disaster. SDC works together with rural population aiming at the sustainable development of the affected territories.

Within these measures special attention is paid to helping the physically and mentally challenged people who form the most vulnerable group of the population. SDC tries to assist their rehabilitation and reintegration into the society. Within the field of social rehabilitation, SDC also supports the efforts of international and national organizations for raising awareness on the problem of human trafficking, as well as social assistance to the victims.

Source: http://www.sdc.by/en/Home/Humanitarian_Aid_Programme/Health_and_Social_Rehabilitation