International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, Aiming for Prevention
NUCLEAR ABOLITION: Today there are still more than 20,000 nuclear weapons in the world, and no comprehensive process is under way to abolish them. IPPNW launched the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) in 2007. ICAN has a very clear and simple premise: in order to achieve a world without nuclear weapons, the nations of the world must negotiate an agreement to eliminate nuclear weapons, and then ban them in the future. We call this agreement a Nuclear Weapons Convention (NWC).
AIMING FOR PREVENTION: CAMPAIGN TO PREVENT SMALL ARMS VIOLENCE
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 developing world. In Africa, Latin America, and South Asia, IPPNW is mobilising the unique expertise and authority of physicians and public health professionals to document the devastating human impact of small arms, educate key stakeholders, and advocate policy reform.
PEACE THROUGH HEALTH AND WAR PREVENTION. IPPNW seeks to understand the links between peace and health, to prevent the human suffering associated with militarism and war, and to promote diplomacy and non-violent resolution of conflict.
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IPPNW 1980
Nobel Peace Prize
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Goals & Strategy
Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
To eliminate nuclear weapons, reduce armed violence and build peace worldwide.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
From uranium mining to nuclear testing and production, from Nevada to Moruroa and Hanford to Chelyabinsk, IPPNW and its affiliates collect and analyze data that provides the public with a frightening assessment of the health and environmental costs of pursuing security through nuclear weapons.
IPPNW and its affiliates not only educate the public, they also organize citizens in the nuclear states to protest and change their governments' policies. IPPNW believes that the active involvement of millions of people is essential if we are to prevent war and abolish nuclear weapons.
Physician activists were instrumental in the campaigns to ban atmospheric and underground nuclear test explosions and in helping to shut down nuclear weapons testing sites and production facilities.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
IPPNW is the only international medical organization dedicated to the abolition of nuclear weapons. Founded by US and Russian physicians in 1980, IPPNW is credited with raising public awareness about the devastating effects of nuclear weapons and with persuading American and Soviet leaders that the Cold War nuclear arms race was jeopardizing the survival of the entire world. IPPNW received the 1985 Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of this accomplishment.
Today IPPNW mobilizes doctors, medical students, and concerned citizens in 62 countries in the service of a broader war prevention mission. The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) and Aiming For Prevention, IPPNW's campaign to reduce the global devastation caused by small arms violence, bring the expertise and compassion of doctors to bear on the whole human tragedy of armed conflict.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
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. Although the Cold War ended with the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the US and Russia retained thousands of nuclear weapons ready to launch at a moment's notice. Proliferation and the threat of nuclear terrorism have added to the nuclear danger in the post-Cold-War world. In recent years we have learned that even a limited, regional nuclear war using a fraction of the world's nuclear weapons would cause irremediable harm to the Earth's ecosystems and could result in the starvation of as many as two billion people in a “nuclear famine."
IPPNW has remained a leader in the global movement for a world without nuclear weapons, launching the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) in 2007, and working with numerous other NGOs to campaign for a treaty that will ban and eliminate these instruments of mass extermination under international law.
The 1990s global campaign to ban landmines marked IPPNW's first major entry into the non-nuclear arena. The federation became engaged in addressing small arms violence in 2001 when we launched Aiming for Prevention, which has broadened to include all types of armed violence. Aiming for Prevention has been driven by IPPNW affiliates from the global South—primarily Sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, and South Asia—who live and work in areas where armed violence is a constant threat and consumes significant portions of health care budgets.
Continuing medical education courses and trainings in the emerging field of Peace through Health have been developed by IPPNW affiliates with university affiliations in Norway, Denmark, the UK, and Canada. IPPNW supports and encourages this academic work to advance the understanding of the interconnections between peace and health.
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
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Connect with nonprofit leaders
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International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War
Board of directorsas of 06/06/2019
Bjørn Hilt
Norwegian Affiliate of IPPNW
Hellen Barsosio
PSR Kenya
Andi Nidecker
PSR-Switzerland
Daniel Bassey
Society of Nigerian Doctors
Bjorn Hilt
Norway PPNW
Ira Helfand
PSR-USA
Tilman Ruff
MAPW-Australia
Andrew Kanter
PSR-USA
Arun Mitra
Indian Doctors for Peace and Development
Michael Christ
IPPNW
Kati Juva
PSR-Finland
Vladimir Garkavenko
Russian PPNW
Hellen Barsosio
PSR Kenya
Angelika Claussen
IPPNW Germany
Oscar Litwin
Argentine PPNW
Richard Denton
Physicians for social survival
Masao Tomonaga
Japanese PPNW
Abay Baighenzin
Kazakh Association of IPPNW
Krishna Adhikary
PSR Nepal
Peter Karamoskos
Medical Association for Prevention of War
Ruby Chirino
MPPNW
Helmut Lohrer
IPPNW Germany
Sue Wareham
Medical Association for Prevention of War
Bimal Khadike`
PSR Nepal
Aino Ritva Weyers
IPPNW Germany
Frank Boulton
Medact
Board leadership practices
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Board orientation and education
Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Yes -
CEO oversight
Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? Yes -
Ethics and transparency
Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? Yes -
Board composition
Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes -
Board performance
Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? Yes