KHARKOV, UKRAINE - MARCH 31: Cardiac surgeons perform open-heart surgery on nearly-four-year-old Rostislav Sokolov on March 31, 2016 in Kharkov, Ukraine. Rostislav was born with congenital heart defects (CHD) that include two holes in his heart and a faulty valve. His surgery is made possible by the Cardiac Alliance, a U.S.-based group that sends surgical teams specialized in CHD in children to countries all over the world, including Ukraine, inconjunction with Irish-based Chernobyl Children International. Though a report released by the United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Radiation (UNSCEAR) claims there is no scientific evidence to confirm a link between radiation resulting from the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster and congenital afflictions, physcians who have worked in the region say incident congential heart defect (CHD) rates have gone up since Chernobyl, as has the frequency of a CHD parent bearing a CHD-stricken child. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)