Greenpeace

Greenpeace is a movement passionate about protecting the natural world from destruction. The network was founded in 1971 and now operates in sixty countries, with over 3 million supporters.

Greenpeace Ukraine’s history dates back to the late 1980s, in response to the Chornobyl nuclear disaster. As one of the first international organizations to arrive in Ukraine, they aimed to establish a hospital for children affected by the Chornobyl disaster and equip it with the latest medical technology.

As a result, in 1989, the “Greenpeace Children of Chornobyl” project was launched to provide medical assistance to children in Ukraine. While the hospital was not open, Greenpeace Ukraine equipped a lab in one of Kyiv’s children’s hospitals. This lab was later donated to the city of Kyiv, and Canadian doctors assisted in training their Ukrainian counterparts. The unit, staffed by a pediatrician and lab technicians, screened children for blood deficiencies, working closely with the local pediatric system, which had been severely strained since the 1986 nuclear accident.

Additionally, Greenpeace Ukraine, alongside other environmental organizations, established an independent environmental laboratory to investigate radioactive contamination of soil, food, and water in the Chornobyl area.