The elimination of nuclear weapons is an urgent medical, humanitarian, and public health imperative. Learn more and get involved today.
Peace and Health Blog
- A government for the worldby Lawrence Wittner on November 18, 2024 at 3:09 pm
Donald Trump’s latest rollout of his hyper nationalist “America First” policy underscores the world’s long-term slide toward catastrophe. Within nations, when conflicts inevitably erupt, there are laws, as well as police, courts, and governments that enforce the laws. On the global level, however, the situation approaches international anarchy. Although the United Nations, the International Court of Justice, and the International
- Two paramount human-made existential threats: Nuclear weapons and our climateby Tilman Ruff on November 14, 2024 at 8:53 pm
“I don’t see a pandemic finishing us off, and climate change itself would (to quote Keating) ‘do us slowly’. The one sure path to extinction is nuclear war.” – Professor Peter Doherty AC, Nobel Laureate, communication to the author, 9 Sep 2024. Two days after Donald Trump’s election last week, the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change
- From national security to international securityby Lawrence Wittner on October 14, 2024 at 2:21 pm
Have human institutions evolved sufficiently to cope with the modern world? When it comes to national security, the answer appears to be: No. Ever since the emergence of individual nations, their governments have sought to secure what they consider their “interests” on an ungoverned planet of competing nations. Amid this international free-for-all, nations tended to pursue national security
- The US has abandoned the Marshallese peopleby IPPNW on October 7, 2024 at 6:33 pm
by Christopher Serrao I encourage all of you to think about what it was truly like in the Marshall Islands on March 1, 1954. Imagine living in the tropical islands replete with diverse flora and fauna. Suddenly, a massive flash is followed by a hot gust of wind and a deafening explosion. Hours later, a
- Student reflections on the WHO Regional Committee for Africaby IPPNW on October 4, 2024 at 10:00 am
by Bonventure Machuka, IPPNW Africa Student Representative, Kenya The Seventy-fourth session of the WHO Regional Committee for Africa happened in Brazzaville, Congo between August 26th and 30th, 2024. It presented a unique and transformative experience where I represented the Federation of African Medical Students’ Associations (FAMSA) from Moi University, Kenya. This event gathered health ministers
On October 11, the Norwegian Nobel Committee announced that it was awarding the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize to Nihon Hidankyo, a grassroots group of Japanese survivors of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, “for its efforts to achieve a world free of nuclear weapons and for demonstrating through witness testimony that nuclear weapons must never be used again,” sending a message to countries that are considering acquiring or threatening to use them.
This recognition is significant and appropriate as we approach the 80th anniversaries of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The Hibakusha have worked for decades to bear witness to the horrors of nuclear war and are central to our common goal of banning and eliminating nuclear weapons.
In March 2023, IPPNW established a new office in Geneva, the “Peace Capital” of the world. In just a year, IPPNW’s presence in the center for medicine and world peace is facilitating our ability to better coordinate with the like-minded organizations. Major highlights include meeting with WHO Director General, Dr. Tedros Ghebreyesus, to discuss the renewal of the WHO’s 1987 study, “Effects of Nuclear War on Health and Health Services”; coordinating more than 150 medical journals, including the Lancet and the British Medical Journal, to call for urgent steps to decrease the growing danger of nuclear war; participating in Norwegian People’s Aid and the ICRC’s NukeEXPO in Brussels and Oslo; and much more.