Indian Doctors Launch Nationwide “Health through Peace” Campaign

More than 450 units of blood collected during “Don’t Shed Blood, Donate Blood” drives

IPPNW’s affiliate Indian Doctors for Peace and Development (IDPD) has launched a year-long series of creative activities in cooperation with student and state chapters under the banner of “Health through Peace.” They are engaging medical students, colleagues and communities in innovative initiatives to prevent violence and promote peace and sustainability.

IDPD medical students have organized three blood donation drives combined with educational presentations around the country with the innovative theme “Don’t shed blood, donate blood.”  National student representatives Aneesh Maini and Shravani Humbe kicked off the first event in March organized by the IDPD student chapter,  Maharashtra, by donating blood at the Dr. Vasantrao Pawar Medical College, Hospital and Research Center in Nasik, Maharashtra.

The students then gave a presentation to medical students on “the menace of war and violence” and the disastrous consequences of the use of nuclear weapons.

They discussed with the audience the role that health professionals can play in abolishing war and nuclear weapons and promoting health through peace.

The other blood drives and discussions were held in April at Imphal, Manipur at the Jawaharlal Nehru institute of Medical Sciences organized by the Manipur IDPD student chapter, and in May at the Guru Nanak Dev Hospital, Amritsar, and with the Medical Student Association of India at Government Medical College, organized by the IDPD student chapter, Punjab.

More than 450 units of blood were collected during the drives!

Time to End the Deadly Flood of Guns

As part of the IANSA Global Week of Action against Gun Violence in early May, members of the IDPD student chapter Punjab Wing, Aadesh Medical University, Bathinda organized a photo caption competition “Time to End the Deadly Flood of Guns.“

Nearly 50 creative captions were submitted in both English and Hindi, and participants were encouraged to join IDPD and keep working on violence prevention. The first place caption winner in English was “Arms in wrong arms” by Amolpreet and 2nd place was “An invention to end all inventions” by Dolly Aggarwal.