According to official statistics, ' Only 2 percent of children are born absolutely healthy in Belarus. . . Children suffer from chronic malnutrition, respiratory disorders and depressed immune systems. Since the tragedy of Chernobyl there has been an increase in birth defects, childhood cancers and diabetes. These figures only indicate part of the picture. There is almost a complete lack of green vegetables.
Fresh fruit is beyond the means of most families in the winter.
Many people, especially those on fixed incomes, live primarily on potatoes and bread in the winter. Fresh fish is a rarity. Most fish is tinned, salted or dried and is beyond most budgets. The iodine in iodised salt available in Belarus has an effective shelf-life of only 6 months. Added to hot or boiling food, in any case, it loses its nutritional value.