Dear HIFA colleagues,
Below are two extracts from a speech by Carlos Umaña, Co-President of International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, IPPNW, opening address to the 24th World Congress in Nagasaki on 2 October. 'Nagasaki is not just a place on the map. It is a moral compass. Eighty years ago, this city bore witness to the catastrophic consequences of nuclear war'
'A full-scale nuclear war would be existential. Beyond the immediate loss of tens of millions of lives and ecological destruction, such a war would bring global radiation exposure, collapse the ozone layer, and trigger a nuclear winter lasting years. Many species, including our own, could face extinction. No country could ever prepare for such an event. There is no coming back from nuclear war....
'Abolition requires stigmatization. Stripping nuclear weapons of their perceived value is essential. This is how humanity has changed other behaviors—like slavery—and abolished other weapons of mass destruction. Today, no country boasts of being a chemical weapons power. No nation proudly includes biological weapons in its security doctrine. What was once acceptable is now unthinkable. We will rid the world of nuclear weapons when they are universally condemned — when nuclear status is not a badge of honor, but a mark of shame....'
This chimes with the HIFA vision in two respects. First, an understanding of the human health consequences of nuclear war is a necessary part of 'the information we need to protect our own health and the health of others'. The vast majority of humankind has little if any understanding of these consequences. Second, on HIFA we have often talked about the stigma of diseases such as mental health disorders, leprosy, epilepsy and many others. Carlos Umaña and IPPNW show us that there is a positive way to promote stigma - to make it a 'mark of shame' for any country to have nuclear weapons. This mark of shame needs to nurtured.
I refer you to the 2023 article published simultaneously in multiple journals, coordinated by HIFA steering group member Chris Zielinski:
Reducing the risks of Nuclear War: The role of Health Professionals
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10480734/
Best wishes, Neil
HIFA profile: Neil Pakenham-Walsh is coordinator of HIFA (Healthcare Information For All), a global health community that brings all stakeholders together around the shared goal of universal access to reliable healthcare information. HIFA has 20,000 members in 180 countries, interacting in four languages and representing all parts of the global evidence ecosystem. HIFA is administered by Global Healthcare Information Network, a UK-based nonprofit in official relations with the World Health Organization. Email: neil@hifa.org