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IPPNW'S Current PrioritiesThe potential for human devastation from
even a single nuclear explosion -- witnessed in the terrible experience of the
people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki -- is as real today as it was 60 years ago. During
the height of the Cold War between the US and the former Soviet Union, the threat
took the form of a catastrophic nuclear exchange leading to mutually assured destruction
and nuclear winter. That threat has not been eliminated, but is exacerbated still
further today by the threat of accidental nuclear war, by proliferation of nuclear
weapons to other countries, and by fears of nuclear terrorism. By bringing doctors
and medical students together in a common cause that transcends traditional boundaries,
IPPNW is working to eliminate the nuclear threat.
At the same time, a
pandemic of small arms violence takes hundreds of thousands of lives around the
world each year, destroying families and entire communities, particularly in the
Global South. Educating the public and policy makers about the public health dimensions
of small arms violence, and advocating for national and international policies
that can substantially reduce the numbers of deaths and injuries, is a major focus
of IPPNW's work.
War itself is a preventable public health disaster that
destroys communities, societal infrastructure, and the environment. Global expenditures
on war and the preparations for war drain badly needed resources from health care,
education, development, and protection of the environment -- the real foundations
of human security. While no one is immune from the effects of militarization,
those who suffer most live once again in the countries of the Global South. Preventing
war is not only a public health priority for IPPNW, but a prerequisite for our
collective security. Abolishing Nuclear WeaponsNuclear
abolition remains our highest priority because nuclear weapons -- no matter whose
hands they are in -- are capable of causing greater, more instantaneous, more
irreparable harm to life on earth than any other weapon used in armed conflict.
Nuclear war cannot be prevented if some countries insist upon keeping these genocidal
weapons while demanding that other countries not acquire them. We will not have
reached our goal until this double standard is ended and nuclear weapons are eliminated
from the world's arsenals.
The goal of IPPNW's International Campaign
to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) is a multilateral, treaty-based framework for
nuclear disarmament that has been introduced at the United Nations as a Model
Nuclear Weapons Convention. ICAN will contribute to mobilizing an irresistible
groundswell of public opinion around the world that will compel leaders to start
and conclude negotiations on a comprehensive legal agreement to finally abolish
nuclear weapons before they are used again. ICAN materials will emphasize prescriptions
for steps toward the goal of abolition, based on the expertise and authority of
the medical profession and its understanding of the consequences of nuclear war.
ICAN will also encourage NGO collaboration and coordination of education and advocacy
strategies.
Our Dialogues With Decision Makers program brings delegations
of physicians and medical students to the capital cities of the nuclear weapon
states in an ongoing effort to educate nuclear policy makers about the medical
consequences of nuclear war and to advocate for a nuclear-weapons-free world.
During the past decade, IPPNW has organized Dialogues in the US, Russia, the UK,
France, India, and Pakistan, and has more recently met with nuclear decision makers
at NATO Headquarters in Brussels.
In South Asia, IPPNW physicians and
medical students are challenging the governments of India and Pakistan to stand
down from their regional nuclear arms race, while our affiliates in North Asia
are working for a regional Nuclear Weapons Free Zone that would provide a long
term solution to North Korea's bid for a nuclear arsenal. IPPNW delegations have
visited the DPRK in an effort to encourage physician-to-physician diplomacy in
the region.
In Europe, IPPNW is working with its UK affiliate, Medact,
to oppose the replacement of Trident submarines and missiles, the only remaining
British strategic nuclear weapon system. A campaign led by IPPNW-Germany and other
European affiliates calls for the removal of US tactical nuclear weapons from
NATO military bases in Europe.
Working with our US affiliate, Physicians
for Social Responsibility, and with affiliates in other countries, IPPNW is working
to prevent the threat of nuclear terrorism and to evaluate preparedness plans
for a medical response to a nuclear explosion, the detonation of a radiological
weapon, or an attack against a nuclear power plant by non-state actors. PSR is
also actively involved in efforts to stop the Reliable Replacement Warhead and
other research and development programs to create a new generation of nuclear
weapons in the world's largest nuclear superpower.
IPPNW is part of a
broad civil society movement for the elimination of nuclear weapons, working in
coalition with Abolition 2000 on the "Abolition Now!" campaign, with
the Mayors For Peace on the "Vision 2020" appeal, and with the Middle
Powers Initiative on the "Article VI Forum" and related projects to
press for compliance with the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and adoption of a
Nuclear Weapons Convention. Aiming For Prevention
IPPNW launched its "Aiming for Prevention" campaign in 2001. The goal
of the campaign is to reduce and prevent injuries and death from small arms violence
and its effects on health, development, and peace in the Global South. Using a
public health approach, IPPNW physicians in Africa, Latin America, and Asia unravel
the causes of firearm violence, quantify the human costs of small arms injuries
and deaths, and help inform public policy.
Major "Aiming For Prevention"
projects include One Bullet Stories, which capture the human dimensions of small
arms violence in text and photographs; clinical research studies, including a
multinational injury study designed to support policy recommendations with hospital-based
data on firearm injuries; and participation in major international conferences
on small arms and light weapons, such as the UN Programme of Action and the Eighth
World Injury Conference.
IPPNW works in coalition with the International
Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA) and is the international coordinator of IANSA's
new Public Health Network. IPPNW is also a member of the World Health Organization's
Violence Prevention Alliance. Promoting Peace and HealthIPPNW
has partnered with McMaster University in a "Peace Through Health" program,
exploring ways in which health interventions in actual and potential war zones
may contribute to peace.
Medact, the British affiliate of IPPNW, has
published a series of in-depth studies of the long-term health consequences of
the war against Iraq and the subsequent US/UK led occupation. These studies illustrate
the profound damage to health and health care infrastructure caused by armed conflict,
and point the way toward policies that link health with security.
A new
IPPNW public education project - Global Health
Alerts - teams up medical students with physician mentors to make public presentations
on a whole range of issues related to the root causes of armed conflict.
A new Medical Peace Education program, sponsored by IPPNW Norway, is offering
medical students a core curriculum exploring the intersections between health
and security as both academic and public policy issues. In the UK, Medact has
produced a global health curriculum for use by public health instructors. Medical
Student Development IPPNW medical students are teaching
a whole new generation of physician leaders about the medical consequences of
nuclear war and the moral imperative of nuclear disarmament through the Nuclear
Weapons Inheritance Project. A new student-initiated project, "Target X,"
is re-educating the public about the effects of a nuclear explosion on a major
city - and the impossibility of a meaningful medical response.
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