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The Belarussian Children's Hospice (BCH) provides palliative care for children and young adults from birth to 24 years who have a life-threatening or life-limiting illness.  It is based in Minsk, the capital of Belarus, and was the first children's hospice in the whole of the former Soviet Union.

All the hospice's services, medicines and nursing supplies are provided free of charge.

BCH, based in Minsk, set up three more children's hospices in other cities in Belarus as well as the first mobile adult hospice in Minsk.  All of these are now run independently of BCH

The concept of palliative care is still new in Belarus and there is little official recognition of it, particularly when provided at home. Dying or chronically ill children are generally hidden in the general wards of badly overcrowded and underfunded hospitals or sent home to die unsupported by medical staff. The Belarussian Children's Hospice cares for these children at home whenever possible.  Our teams of doctors, nurses and therapists provide pain control, dignity and increased self-esteem for the child and support and counselling for their families.  BCH also has a small in-patient unit where children can receive 24 hour care and a parent can stay with them.  End of life care is also available here.  There are also 3 respite care beds where children can stay for up to 2 weeks to give their parents and brothers and sisters a break from caring for their sick child round the clock.

67% of the hospice's young patients suffer from cancer and many others suffer from immune deficiency and life-limiting genetic disorders.  The hospice is now caring for babies born to mothers who were girls or in-utero at the time of the Chernobyl disaster.  These babies have very deformed internal organs, are intellectually impaired and often a life expectancy of just 2 or 3 years.  Following the Chernobyl nuclear accident in Ukraine in 1986, 24% of Belarus' territory was irradiated. There is a Closed Zone in the south of Belarus from which entire populations were evacuated in the wake of the disaster.

BCH runs a day centre where children and young adults with life-limiting or life-threatening illnesses can make friends, play, enjoy outings to the zoo, botanical gardens, cinema and theatre, have parties for special occasions and be entertained by musicians.  Disability is still stigmatised in Belarus and all too often sick children become isolated in their own homes which are often in blocks of flats without a lift.

Every summer the hospice takes groups of children, with professional care workers and volunteers, to their summer holiday hospice in the countryside 100km outside Minsk.  Here they can benefit from fresh air and sunshine and the company of other children in similar circumstances to their own.

Parents of hospice children have set up a self-help group under the hospice's guidance and there is on-going care and support for families whose child has died.

BCH trains doctors, nurses and psychologists in palliative care and counselling in conjunction with the Post-graduate Training Department of the Belarussian Medical Academy.

All our families have 24 hour telephone access to a hospice doctor or nurse in case of an emergency.

Details of these and the hospices other programmes can be found in the ‘Our Services' pages of this website … click here to read more

BCH does not receive any state funding and relies on grants and voluntary contributions. Some local Belarussian companies are now also supporting the hospice but it will be many years before public awareness and funding in Belarus is such that the hospice will be able to survive without Western aid.  13% of our income comes from Belarussian businesses and the remainder is from EU grants, Friends of the Belarussian Children's Hospice (UK) which funds the hospice's salary bill and other NGOs.  Our long-term aim is to be totally financed from within Belarus and a dedicated fundraiser responsible for developing indigenous sponsorship has been appointed to the hospice's staff.