Nuclear abolition: for a future

摘要

Founded in 1980, IPPNW has grown steadily over the past 30 years. It has been said, albeit anecdotally, that the two main co-founders of IPPNW Drs Bernard Lown and Evgenij Chazov were attending a cardiology conference and found themselves together in a lift that had become stuck. A conversation ensued about the greatest threat to the health of all people at the time, namely nuclear weapons, and this led to the founding of IPPNW. Drs Lown and Chazov realised that, despite the ideological differences of their governments, they and all the peoples of the world lived in the shadow of the same threat - radiation from a nuclear detonation would not discriminate on the basis of race or ideology. The organization they founded has performed valuable work in spreading the message of, and need for, nuclear disarmament and the consequences, both to health and to the environment, of a detonation. IPPNW has educated populations and lobbied politicians and in 1985 was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for its efforts. If so much could be done during the years when the threat and turmoil was greatest, it is an obligation for the next generation of doctors and healthcare professionals to carry on and finish the struggle to abolish nuclear weapons, eradicate associated health problems, and tackle global inequalities once and for all.