WHO's role in the assessment and mitigation of the health effects of the Chernobyl accident: Previous page | 1,2,3

The United Nations has played a key role in providing and coordinating the international assistance to the affected States. For a number of years, UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) coordinated Chernobyl activities of UN agencies. In 2001-2002, the UN approach to management of the accident's consequences were revised. It was no longer considered a disaster area. The new vision on the best way forward was reflected in the UN report "The Human Consequences of the Chernobyl Nuclear Accident: A Strategy for Recovery".

This Report contains the findings of a study commissioned by agencies of the United Nations to obtain up-to-date and credible information on the current conditions that people are living fifteen years after the Chernobyl accident, and recommends how their needs can best be addressed. The study was conducted by a multidisciplinary international team in July and August 2001 on behalf of UNDP and UNICEF, with the support of the UN OCHA and WHO.

In 2003, in response to the new UN Strategy, an inter-agency initiative - the Chernobyl Forum - was launched under the leadership of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The Forum has the following UN organizations participating: IAEA, FAO, UNEP, UNSCEAR, as well as other relevant international organizations, and representatives of the Governments of Belarus, Russian Federation and Ukraine.

Terms of Reference of the Chernobyl Forum. The mission of the Forum is — through a series of managerial, expert and public meetings — to generate "authoritative consensual statements" on the environmental consequences and health effects attributable to radiation exposure arising from the accident. The Forum was created as a contribution to the United Nations' ten years strategy for Chernobyl, launched in 2002 with the publication of Human Consequences of the Chernobyl Nuclear Accident – A Strategy for Recovery.

Since 2003, two Expert Groups "Environment" (EGH), coordinated by the IAEA, and "Health" (EGH), coordinated by WHO - have produced reports for the Forum's consideration.

In the photo: EGH experts: V. Ivanov (Russian Federation), Z. Carr (WHO), V. Bebeshko (Ukraine) and E. Kapitonova (Belarus)

In order to give wide publicity to the Forum’s findings and recommendations, and to inform governments, the international scientific community and the general public, the Chernobyl Forum organizes, through the IAEA, an International Conference entitled "Chernobyl: Looking Back to Go Forwards" in Vienna on September 6-7 2005. The Forum aims to disseminate its findings widely through UN organizations and the mass media. Outputs from the Forum will be placed on the web site as they become available.

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