In 1993 three institutes, belonging respectively to the Heidelberg Academy for the Humanities and Sciences, to the Russian Academy of Sciences, and to the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, launched a cooperative research project. The main aim of the project is to develop mathematical methodologies needed for better information support in health policy decision-making in the area of primary health care provision for the Russian populations affected by radiation due to the Chernobyl accident.

At present, the major data basis of the project is the Russian Medical and Dosimetric (Chernobyl) Registry administrated in the Medical Radiological Research Centre, Obninsk, Russia.

The book describes the general mathematical approaches in the project and the given conditions of the registry. This includes the logistics of the registry and the overall procedures of data collection and processing as well as some epidemiological indicators. The material published are part of an internal, basic documentation of the project, needed as the starting point for mathematical modelling. Although necessarily selective in their compilation the materials may be of general interest. They present the first international publication of a comprehensive description of the Russian Chernobyl Registry in the context of specific research topic.