A radiation monitoring system has been created and is functioning in the Republic of Belarus, which is part of the national environmental monitoring system. It includes a wide network of observation points and accredited laboratories. The main objects of monitoring are atmospheric air, soil, surface and underground water, taking into account the specifics of radioactive contamination of individual regions, their landscape and geochemical features and other factors.

At the republican level, control over radioactive contamination is ensured by the Ministry of Emergency Situations, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection, and the State Committee for Standardization. Activities in the field of functioning of radioactively contaminated territories have been regulated by Gosatomnadzor since January 2023.

From the first days after the Chernobyl disaster, the Belarusian government began to carry out measures aimed at protecting the population living in close proximity to the plant.

In Belarus, a state register of persons exposed to radiation as a result of the Chernobyl disaster and other radiation accidents has been created, as well as the Unified Chernobyl Register of Russia and Belarus. The main direction of the state social policy in relation to citizens affected by the Chernobyl disaster is to provide assistance to socially vulnerable categories of the population, to provide benefits and compensations stipulated by the Law of the Republic of Belarus "On Social Protection of Citizens Affected by the Chernobyl Disaster and Other Radiation Accidents."

One of the most important tasks is to increase the efficiency and improve the quality of medical care for participants in the liquidation of the consequences of the accident, health resort treatment and rehabilitation of the affected population, especially children living in contaminated areas. The basis of the medical care system is a special medical examination of citizens affected by the Chernobyl disaster, ensuring early detection of diseases and timely treatment, rehabilitation and preventive measures. New medical institutions, institutes, specialized clinics and centers have been opened in the republic. In 2003, the Republican Scientific and Practical Center for Radiation Medicine and Human Ecology, built under the patronage of the President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko, began operating in Gomel. The opening of the center made it possible to significantly bring medical care closer to the regions most affected by the Chernobyl disaster.

District hospitals are constantly being equipped with modern medical equipment, and modern technologies for diagnosing and treating affected citizens have been implemented on the basis of medical institutions - telemedicine, NMR tomography, etc. One of the priority aspects for preserving and strengthening the health of children living in contaminated areas is rational balanced nutrition. All students of general education institutions located in the territory of radioactive contamination are provided with free meals, which are provided at the place of study at the expense of funds allocated for the liquidation of the consequences of the disaster at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant.

An important component in maintaining health is spa treatment and health improvement. In accordance with current legislation, minors living in radioactively contaminated areas, children living in clean areas and attending schools located in contaminated areas have the right to free spa treatment or health improvement. The state pays special attention to improving the material and technical support of children's rehabilitation and health centers, of which there are 12 in the country. Thanks to a large-scale state program, about 97 thousand citizens from the affected areas receive spa treatment and health improvement annually, including 87 thousand children.

The damage caused to the republic by the Chernobyl disaster, calculated for a 30-year period of overcoming it, is estimated at 235 billion US dollars, which is equal to 32 budgets of the republic in 1985. This includes losses associated with the deterioration of public health; damage caused to industry and the social sphere, agriculture, the construction complex, transport and communications, housing and communal services; pollution of mineral, raw material, land, water, forest and other resources; as well as additional costs associated with the implementation of measures to eliminate and minimize the consequences of the disaster and ensure safe living conditions for the population.

The implementation of a targeted state policy in the field of liquidation of the consequences of the disaster at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant made it possible to solve a number of important problems. The state has taken significant measures to solve radiation-ecological, medical, socio-economic and other problems associated with the disaster at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. The main instrument for implementing state policy in the field of overcoming the consequences of the Chernobyl disaster are state programs. Since 1990, five state programs have been implemented to overcome the consequences of the disaster at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. The sixth is currently being implemented - for 2021-2025. The main goals of the programs are social protection of the affected population, ensuring radiation safety requirements, accelerated socio-economic development and the revival of territories contaminated with radionuclides.

During the post-accident period, the area of ​​the republic’s territory contaminated with cesium-137 decreased almost twofold – from 23% to 12.3%.

The dose of external radiation of the population due to the decay of cesium-137 is gradually decreasing, the radiation situation is improving. However, it remains tense in the territory of the Polesie State Radiation and Ecological Reserve. Of all the radionuclides that fell in Belarus, it accounted for more than 30% of cesium-137, 73% of strontium-90 and 97% of plutonium isotopes.

Along with state programs for the liquidation of the consequences of the Chernobyl accident, a number of international projects have been implemented in Belarus for 39 years. A major contribution to the rehabilitation of territories was made by the implementation of joint programs to overcome the consequences of the Chernobyl disaster within the Union State.

The programs allowed for significant capital investments in the construction and equipment of medical facilities. Pilot projects for targeted rehabilitation of farms in areas contaminated with radionuclides were implemented. Within the framework of these programs, new approaches to conducting information work on the Chernobyl topic were established, developed and tested in practice; a Russian-Belarusian information center (RBIC) was created with branches in Moscow and Minsk.

Over a 39-year period, Belarus has gone from being a recipient of humanitarian aid to a full-fledged partner and expert country with experience in overcoming the consequences of a large-scale man-made disaster. Today, Belarus has unique scientific and practical experience in medicine and ecology, emergency preparedness, production of clean products, land and forest reclamation and their return to circulation.

The damage assessment is not final, since the cause-and-effect relationships reflecting the impact of radioactive contamination of the territory on various aspects of life are quite complex. Science does not yet have complete and final information on the medical, biological, social and environmental consequences of the Chernobyl disaster.

On December 8, 2016, at the UN headquarters in New York, at a plenary session, the UN General Assembly adopted by consensus resolution 71/125 "Long-term consequences of the Chernobyl disaster", initiated and prepared by the delegation of Belarus. Together with Belarus, 60 states of the world became co-authors of this UN General Assembly document on the Chernobyl issue. An important symbolic element of the resolution is the proclamation of April 26 as the International Day of Remembrance of the Chernobyl Disaster.

The International Chernobyl Disaster Remembrance Day serves as a reminder of the dangers of nuclear accidents and the need to strengthen international cooperation to mitigate the long-term consequences of the Chernobyl accident.