Student reflections on the WHO Regional Committee for Africa
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 from all the 47 member states , policy experts , stakeholders , various United Nations agencies, civil society organizations, academia and development partners from the African continent and across the globe. The committee session happened at a prime time when the continent is faced with health and related challenges including monkeypox outbreak, vaccine inequalities, a changing climate, conflicts, poverty, and humanitarian crises among other determinants of health. I had an opportunity to experience the programme sessions and also to engage with global leaders and policymakers on crucial health issues in our continent. This reflection focuses on the nexus of health, climate change, conflict and disarmament, inequalities and youth engagement.
Read more…The threat to end civilization has never been — and never will be — a guarantor of global peace or national security.
Delivered by Molly McGinty, IPPNW Program Director, at the High-level Meeting on the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City, 26 September 2024
Distinguished delegates and colleagues,
I extend my profound thanks to the President of the General Assembly for inviting me today as a representative of the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, a global federation of health professionals dedicated to the abolition of nuclear weapons and founding partner of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons. I stand here as a young disarmament campaigner who is inheriting the world you shape in these halls.
Read more…An Urgent Call to Step Back from the Brink of Nuclear War
As the risk of nuclear war grows, an eminent group of Nobel Laureates, medical and scientific leaders, and notable public figures come together with one common voice to call on world leaders to act with the urgency this moment requires and step back from the brink of global catastrophe.
This joint statement, endorsed by over 80 prominent global leaders, including former Prime Ministers, retired Generals, and medical journal editors, comes at the heels of the UNGA’s Summit of the Future. The full list of signatories can be found below the letter.
Read more…Personal memories of a war that did not happen
For twenty years, starting in 1983, IPPNW delegations visited the former Soviet Union frequently, sometimes twice a year. The Swedish affiliate arranged most of these, in cooperation with the Soviet IPPNW. I participated in most of these meetings, and rely mostly on my own memories in recounting them.
Read more…The consequences of climate change are neither distant nor theoretical
by Yusuf Dominic
On the night of 10 September 2024, Maiduguri, in northeastern Nigeria, experienced its worst flooding in more than 30 years. This disaster has claimed about 30 lives and displaced over 400,000 people, with nearly 40% of the city submerged. Homes, hospitals, and schools have been severely impacted by the floods. I too, have been affected, as the water rose above the windows of the house I’m renting, resulting in the loss of almost all my belongings. Fortunately, I had my passport with me while applying for Azerbaijan visa at the small private hospital where I work. Otherwise, I would have lost that too.
Amidst this devastation, I found some joy in being able to evacuate all the patients, including a five-hour-old baby, out of the hospital. The water level in the hospital compound reached my chest during the evacuation, making it a harrowing experience.
Read more…A Push for Africa’s Leadership in the Universalization of the Nuclear Ban
by Dr. Kelvin Kibet, Deputy Chair and African Regional Vice President of IPPNW, Kenya
As the disarmament community braces for the 3rd Meeting of States Parties to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) in March 2025, and the global diplomatic community prepares for the 2024 United Nations General Assembly, the push for nuclear disarmament is gaining critical momentum. The recent conference on the universalization of the TPNW, organized by South Africa and Austria with support from the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), emphasized Africa’s pivotal role in championing a nuclear-weapon-free world. African nations have been strong advocates for disarmament, and now, more than ever, their leadership is needed to accelerate global progress toward abolishing nuclear weapons.
Read more…The law of force or the force of law
Are the nations of the world doomed to go on fighting the brutal, horrifying wars that have long characterized human history?
We might well wonder about that as we watch, aghast, while Israeli armed forces slaughter thousands of Palestinian civilians, Russian military might relentlessly pounds Ukrainian towns and cities into rubble, and new, bloody wars erupt in numerous other lands.
Why does such widespread destruction and human suffering persist in the modern, ostensibly “civilized,” world?
Read more…Making nuclear weapons taboo
by Carlos Umaña
When the Cold War ended in 1991 and the Doomsday Clock was at its furthest from midnight, the world sighed in relief. The prevailing thought was that, in a world that was no longer bipolar, there would be no more use for nuclear weapons, so the superpowers would disarm, and we would all be safe. It was a moment of hope where many believed this low tension between the military and economic powers of the world would lead to peace talks and nuclear disarmament.
So, why didn’t nuclear disarmament happen when the iron curtain fell? Why didn’t nukes die when the Cold War ended, as they should have? What was missing? What did the international community get wrong?
Read more…Let’s think about how to build a more peaceful world
Although the current US presidential campaign has focused almost entirely on domestic issues, Americans live on a planet engulfed in horrific wars, an escalating arms race, and repeated threats of nuclear annihilation. Amid this dangerous reality, shouldn’t we give some thought to how to build a more peaceful future?
Read more…Donald Trump’s reckless infatuation with nuclear weapons
Over the past decade and more, nuclear war has grown increasingly likely. Most nuclear arms control and disarmament agreements of the past have been discarded by the nuclear powers or will expire soon. Moreover, there are no nuclear arms control negotiations underway. Instead, all nine nuclear nations (Russia, the United States, China, Britain, France, India, Pakistan, Israel, and North Korea) have begun a new nuclear arms race, qualitatively improving the 12,121 nuclear weapons in existence or building new, much faster, and deadlier weapons. Furthermore, the cautious, diplomatic statements about international relations that characterized an earlier era have given way to public threats of nuclear war, issued by top officials in Russia, the United States, and North Korea.
This June, UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned that, given the heightened risk of nuclear annihilation, “humanity is on a knife’s edge.”
This increasingly menacing situation owes a great deal to Donald Trump.
Read more…
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Charles K. Johnson
Gunnar Westberg
IPPNW
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Lawrence Wittner
Maria Valenti
mollymcgint
Sue Wareham
Tilman Ruff
Tim Wright
Xanthe Hall
IPPNW peace and health blog 