8 October, Lepel District /Kristina Kurlovich - BELTA/. More than 12,000 Belarusian and Russian children have undergone health improvement programs funded by the Union State budget over ten years of implementing the Union measure on organizing treatment and health improvement for children from the regions of Belarus and Russia most affected by the Chernobyl NPP disaster. This was announced to journalists today by Ivan Yanovich, Head of the Social Policy Department of the Department of Social Policy and Information Support of the Standing Committee of the Union State, as reported by a BELTA correspondent. Of these, over 1,800 children underwent health improvement at the "Zhemchuzhina" Children's Rehabilitation and Health Improvement Center in Lepel District, which has been one of the permanent implementers of the Union State program since 2004. Today, the center hosted the "Union State Day at Zhemchuzhina," dedicated to the 10th anniversary of the Union measure on organizing treatment and health improvement for children from regions affected by the Chernobyl NPP disaster. Traditionally, children from Bryansk, Kaluga, and Tula regions, as well as from Gomel, Brest, and Mogilev regions, are hosted here. "Over the past ten years, through the implementation of the Union State measure, we have provided health improvement for 12,000 children. We do not intend to stop there; on the contrary, we plan to involve the maximum number of children, aiming to provide health improvement for up to 2,000 children per year," said Ivan Yanovich. He explained that annually the Union State announces a competition to select health improvement centers that will host children under this program. "We set rather strict parameters for the selection of such institutions, and the fact that 'Zhemchuzhina' has been participating in this work for many years indicates that this center meets them," emphasized the Head of the Social Policy Department. As explained by Maria Zhelnereine, Deputy Director for Medical Affairs at the "Zhemchuzhina" Children's Rehabilitation and Health Improvement Center, to optimize all efforts for the health improvement and sanatorium-resort treatment of children, the center has adopted a personalized approach to selecting treatment complexes. "We have created and developed at our facility health improvement complexes, which are sets of procedures applied for specific pathologies. They are selected individually based on the medical documentation that the child brings with them and the examinations conducted at the center," explained the specialist.