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Under the leadership of the Institute of Pediatrics, Obstetrics and Gynecology, a multifaceted and extensive scientific study of health issues affecting women and chil dren has been initiated. The project, "Family and Children of Ukraine", is an integral part of an international study of pregnancy and childhood which was begun by the World Health Organization. 14 European nations are participating in the project with the goal of defining biological, ecological, social, medical, psycho-sociai and cultural factors that ef fect health and survival capacity of the family, the fetus, the child, and subsequently, future generations. In Ukraine, the study began in 1993-94 with the observation of approximately 15,000 pregnant women regis tered at the maternity clinics in participating cities and re gions including Kyiv, Mariupol, Dniprodzherzhynsk, Ivano- Frankivsk, and Krasnij Luh. The project was designed to develop a database which would provide information on family lifestyles and help medical professionals and gov ernment authorities to design programs and policies which would assist parents in raising children. Currently, ques tionnaires are being distributed by medical staff from ma ternity and pediatric clinics to families to determine family lifestyle and to monitor child development. Responses are sent to the project coordination center in Kyiv where the information is collated and stored, providing a database which will hopefully provide answers to a whole series of questions about contemporary life of Ukrainian families and will be of interest to various organizations concerned with the welfare of those families. The results of the study will provide a basis for evaluating the effects of social, ecologi cal and medical problems on the health of infants and chil dren; this will, in turn, lead to developing strategies for pro tecting and strengthening the gene pool by means of im proving the social, ecological, and medical protection of mothers, children and families. One of the long range aims of the project is to provide an insight into the future of to day’s Ukrainian children and the future of children of the next generation. About the author: Dr. Zoreslava Nizhnik is Director of the Department of Family Health Problems at the Institute of Pediatrics, Obstetrics, and Gynecology at the Academy of Medical Science in Kyiv. She is Research Director and Coordination of the “Children of Ukraine" project and was a panelist at the workshop on Environ mental Disaster and its Effects on Women and Children which was held in Beijing, China at the Untied Nations Fourth World Conference on Women. THE FORGOTTEN HOLOCAUST by NATALIE MASON GAWDIAK Undoubtedly, many historians will give Mikhail Gorbachev “credit” for ushering in the period of glas- nost that many felt led to the undoing of the Soviet Union. But one wonders how much of this was con scious effort on his part and how much was just giving a name to an avalanche that was already roaring down hill? In September of 1989, Boris Yeltsin predicted that Gorbachev had only about six months to a year to address the social and economic problems that were tearing the USSR apart, or face a “revolution that will push the Soviet Union over the edge of the abyss.” On the TV show “Good Morning America,” Yeltsin said, “You have a crisis in the economic system, in the finan cial system — a national crisis, a nationalities crisis, a social crisis and a crisis in the party as well.” And there was, of course, the crisis of the Chor nobyl nuclear disaster and its aftermath. Many of those same historians that today laud Gorbachev for his role in changing the Soviet Union, have overlooked his role in the coverup of the Chornobyl nuclear disaster a decade ago. And although the Bible tells us that we should not judge others, perhaps it is permissible to urge those responsible for a great wrong to publicly admit that wrong and ask for forgivness. Although Gor bachev was not personally responsible for the disaster, he was personally responsible for the decision to with hold information from the public. This terrible decision resulted in having people carry out their normal outdoor activities in the highly radioactive zone. President Gor bachev tried to keep the news of the disaster from his own people and from the rest of the planet. The Soviet Union, under his direction, refused aid from outside sources for a very long time. Moreover, even to this day, information about the exact number of people who died immediately after the explosion and who died in the months afterwards has never been released. In a cynical public relations move, the USSR retained the Interna tional Atomic Energy Agency to do a whitewash assess ment of the tragedy. In this “scientific” study, under taken by 200 scientists from various countries, the people who helped and those who were forced to clean up the radioactive debris and to attempt to contain the radioac tive emission were not examined. Most of us can only wonder how many of these people are still alive today. The law recognizes the crime of “negligent homi cide” but there are no laws that recognize negligent genocide.” If one needs a definition for what the latter might be, one need only look at what M. Gorbachev did, or rather failed to do, in the terrible Spring of 1986. 22 ’’НАШЕ Ж ИТТЯ”, КВІТЕНЬ 1996 Видання C оюзу Українок A мерики - перевидано в електронному форматі в 2012 році . A рхів C У A - Ню Йорк , Н . Й . C Ш A.
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