IPPNW Statement on COVID-19

As Covid-19 overtakes the world, the interconnectedness of our modern human family has never been clearer. Hopefully, more people and world leaders will now come to understand what IPPNW has long advocated: working proactively to prevent threats to global health and survival, rather than waiting to respond to the next pandemic or the use of nuclear weapons, is imperative. It is time to end the diversion of resources to militarism and war, and the stationing of thousands of civilization-ending nuclear weapons on 24-7 hair-trigger alert.  It’s time to prioritize social investments that promote and protect human health and wellbeing. IPPNW adds it’s full-throated endorsement to the UN Secretary General’s call for a global ceasefire in order to conquer coronavirus.  “End the sickness of war and fight the disease that is ravaging our world. It starts by stopping the fighting everywhere. Now.”

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International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War is a non-partisan federation of national medical organizations in 64 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.

IPPNW was founded in 1980 by physicians from the United States and the former Soviet Union who shared a common commitment to the prevention of nuclear war between their two countries. Citing the first principal of the medical profession—that doctors have an obligation to prevent what they cannot treat—a global federation of physician experts came together to explain the medical and scientific facts about nuclear war to policy makers and to the public, and to advocate for the elimination of nuclear weapons from the world’s arsenals.

IPPNW received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1985.