Raisa
The seed for the Foundation was planted in 1989 when Raisa Gorbachev established the Children’s Leukaemia Haematology project.
Mikhail and Raisa Gorbachev strove to improve the public’s understanding that children can be cured of this frightening and fatal disease if diagnosed early and given the right treatment.
Half the funds from Mikhail Gorbachev’s Nobel Peace Prize were donated to the cause and they followed this with donations to buy equipment for blood banks and to train Russian doctors abroad. The organisation played a huge role in the development of child haematology in Russia and drastically improved the public’s understanding of the problem.
With the help of Raisa, the first centre for children equipped to perform leukaemia-associated surgery in Russia was opened in 1988. By the time of her death from Leukaemia in 1999, there were 83 units offering treatment for leukaemia across Russia.
