CHERNOBYL CHILDREN'S PROJECT (UK)

Providing Medicines

Treatment for children with cancer in Belarus is generally very good and successful.  The influx of support following the Chernobyl accident meant that  Belarusian doctors received a great deal of guidance from abroad, particularly from Germany and Japan, and the protocols adopted to treat children are now the same as in most European countries.

But there are times when a medicine is urgently needed and is simply not available in Belarus. This is when we can step in to help.

In these cases, we receive an SOS call either directly from the cancer hospital or from the Minsk based cancer charity Children in Trouble, often requesting medicine for a particular child. Sometimes the child has a fungal infection which cannot be treated, or they may even require vital medicine for before or after a life-saving bone marrow transplant.

Whenever we can, when funds allow, we try to help and purchase these medicines. We realise that in some cases it can be a matter of life and death. During the last few years we have often purchased medicines jointly with another UK charity, Chernobyl Children’s Lifeline and we hope to continue co-operating in this way to ensure every child has the best possible chance of survival.

We are sometimes able to support the hospital with purchases of equipment to improve the quality of life for parents who stay there with their children – a televisions or microwave , or these tables (on the left) where the children do arts and crafts, to keep them entertained and help to pass the time.

Have a look at our Shopping Page where you can buy a Christmas gift for a child on the ward, or help us to buy desperately needed medicines.