Alexander has a mental handicap and has been abandoned by his parents. Children in the region of Semipalatinsk are born with mental handicaps because of the high doses of radiation their parents received. Socially and economically isolated, many parents are unable to take care of their children and so the children are often sent to orphanages. Nuclear tests in Semipalatinsk caused wide spread radioactive contamination in Kazakhstan. Around 1.7 million people have been used as guinea pigs by the military and been severely affected by radiation. The rates of cancers, leukemia, cardio vascular diseases, bone diseases and children born with physical or mental handicaps have increased dramatically since the testing started. In 1999, UNDP declared the region a disaster zone and called for wide spread support for the people living there.