IPPNW is a non-partisan federation of national medical groups in 56 countries, representing tens of thousands of doctors, medical students, other health workers, and concerned citizens who share the common goal of creating a more peaceful and secure world freed from the threat of nuclear annihilation and armed violence.
IPPNW is the only international medical organization dedicated to the abolition of nuclear weapons. Founded by US and Russian physicians in 1980, IPPNW is credited with raising public awareness about the devastating effects of nuclear weapons and with persuading American and Soviet leaders that the Cold War nuclear arms race was jeopardizing the survival of the entire world. IPPNW received the 1985 Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of this accomplishment.
Today IPPNW mobilizes doctors, medical students, and concerned citizens in 56 countries in the service of a broader war prevention mission. The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) and Aiming For Prevention, IPPNW’s campaign to prevent armed violence worldwide, bring the expertise and compassion of doctors to bear on the whole human tragedy of armed conflict.
For as long as humans have resorted to war to settle their differences, doctors have been expected to treat injured soldiers and civilians, and to help restore societies to health at the conclusion of armed conflict. They have a unique and profound understanding of both the immediate and the long term consequences of war. In the 1960s, a group of concerned physicians studied and documented the blast, heat, and radiation effects of nuclear weapons, and came to the inescapable conclusion that a meaningful medical response to nuclear war is impossible. The atomic destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the lifelong suffering of the survivors-the result of only two, small, relatively primitive nuclear weapons-had put the medical profession on notice that it must prevent what it would be unable to cure. That doctors would advocate the abolition of nuclear weapons not only makes sense, it is also seen by many as a professional responsibility. The World Health Organization (with which IPPNW has had formal relations since March 1985), the US National Institute of Medicine, the British Medical Association, and the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences are just a few of the prestigious organizations that have made major contributions to our understanding of the medical consequences of nuclear war.
IPPNW has broadened its mission over the past 20 years to address the public health dimensions of armed conflict in all its aspects. We participated actively in the International Campaign to Ban Landmines in the 1990s, and developed a major program to confront the global scourge of armed violence from a public health perspective, Aiming for Prevention (AFP). Aiming for Prevention has been a leading medical voice on the public health aspects of armed violence at important United Nations negotiations, including the United Nations Programme of Action on Small Arms and Light Weapons, and in passing the historic international Cluster Munitions Convention and the Arms Trade Treaty. engage in medical peace education worldwide including in in the Middle East, Africa, Latin America, South Asia, and other conflict-prone parts of the world.
In 1987 the World Health Organization concluded that nuclear weapons “constitute the greatest immediate threat to health and human survival…and that the only approach to the treatment of the health effects of nuclear warfare is primary prevention, that is, the prevention of nuclear war.” Decades later, the nuclear threat not only persists but is in many ways more dangerous than ever before.
More than 12,000 nuclear weapons remain in the arsenals of the nuclear powers-more than 90 percent of them in the US and Russia-with an explosive yield of more than a hundred thousand Hiroshima-sized bombs. The US and Russia maintain thousands of nuclear weapons on constant alert, ready to be launched at a moment’s notice. China, France, the United Kingdom, Israel, India, Pakistan, and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea), also have nuclear weapons. Other countries have gone part way toward developing nuclear weapons in recent years but have stopped.
The sizes of existing nuclear arsenals and the possible unraveling of the non-proliferation regime are worrisome, but so are changing nuclear weapons policies, which are increasing the risk that these weapons may actually be used. The US, Russia, China, France, and the UK are all developing new generations of smaller, more flexible nuclear weapons and have described uses for them that go beyond deterring the use of nuclear weapons by others. India and Pakistan have engaged in nuclear rhetoric reminiscent of that used by the US and the Soviet Union during the Cold War, and there are legitimate concerns that the nuclear line could be crossed in the Middle East.
Add to that the growing threat of nuclear terrorism, and it becomes clear that our post-Cold War nuclear danger is not only very real but also far more complex than it was in the days of “mutually assured destruction.”
As a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), Iran has made a promise not to acquire nuclear weapons. The other NPT member states have an obligation to hold Iran to that promise, and to respond with an end to crippling economic sanctions. Until the US under the Trump administration unilaterally withdrew from the JCPOA and imposed unilateral sanctions on Iran, their government was fully complying with the multilateral agreement, monitored by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA,) that had effectively shut down its nuclear weapons development programs. After a year, Iran has now transparently exceeded its agreed limits on the production of enriched uranium. It is hoped that a new administration in Washington will rejoin the JCPOA and put the agreement back on track.
When the DPRK tested a nuclear weapon, declared itself a nuclear weapon state, and withdrew from the NPT, the response of the international community, including the US, was an intensive diplomatic effort to defuse the crisis. When President Trump took office, threats and insults between the US and North Korea immediately escalated, but, in conjunction with leadership from South Korea, Trump and Supreme Leader Kim Jong-Un engaged in direct diplomacy to again defuse the renewed crisis. Diplomacy and negotiation-not military threats-are the best and only appropriate means to deal with proliferation concerns.
To end the proliferation threat permanently, however, the nuclear-weapon states must renounce the double standard they use to justify their own possession of nuclear weapons while condemning possession by others. There are no “responsible” and “irresponsible,” “good” and “evil” owners of nuclear weapons. Nuclear weapons in anyone’s hands are incompatible with human survival and must be abolished.
When the 2005 NPT Review collapsed and prospects dimmed for any real progress in disarmament and non-proliferation, IPPNW launched the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN). ICAN received the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize for its global efforts to educate decision makers and the public about the catastrophic humanitarian consequences of nuclear weapons and nuclear war, culminating in the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW).
The TPNW entered into force in 2021, thereby becoming an becoming an effective legal, moral, and political tool for bringing the nuclear-armed and nuclear-dependent states into compliance with the prohibitions, and compelling them to take the necessary steps to eliminate weapons that have been declared illegal under international law.
IPPNW works closely with our affiliate network and partners to universalize and promote complete implementation of the TPNW.
IPPNW affiliates are national medical organizations with a common commitment to the abolition of nuclear weapons and the prevention of war and armed violence. As of 2024, IPPNW has affiliates in 56 countries, ranging in size from a handful of dedicated physicians and medical students to tens of thousands of activists and their supporters. As independent organizations within a global federation, IPPNW affiliates engage in a wide variety of activities related to war, health, social justice, and the environment. Their common bond, however, is a determination to rid the world of the most immediate and irreparable threat to life on Earth-nuclear weapons and nuclear war.
IPPNW’s headquarters is in Malden, Massachusetts, in the United States. Contact information for the Central Office staff and for every active affiliate are available on this site.
An International Council, comprising delegates from each IPPNW affiliate, makes all decisions about IPPNW policy, and elects At-Large members of the Board, Co-Presidents, and other officers. Regional Vice Presidents, who are also members of the Board, are elected by the affiliates in their regions. The Board of Directors is the governing body of IPPNW, responsible for the organization’s budget, staff, and program priorities. An Executive Committee of the Board manages ongoing governance and staff operations between Board meetings.
IPPNW depends upon the donations and active involvement of everyone concerned with the nuclear threat and with the impact of war on life and health. To learn more about donation options, go here.
IPPNW makes all of its financial information freely and publicly available through our participation in GuideStar. Our profile, and all of our IRS data, is listed and easily accessible here: www.guidestar.org/profile/04-2702110 (or just type IPPNW in the search box on the Guidestar website).
IPPNW maintains this website for the benefit of our members, supporters and the general public. We respect the fundamental privacy of our online visitors. It is designed as an informational resource pertaining to the mission of IPPNW. To read the privacy policy, go here.
