The Lancet has published on the work of Pacific Island states – led by Marshall Islands, Samoa, and Vanuatu – to renew WHO’s mandate to investigate the effects of nuclear war on global health.
The mandate would enable the WHO to update its 1983 and 1987 reports on the effects of nuclear war on health and health services, and its 1993 report on the Health and Environmental Effects of Nuclear Weapons report.
The article features comment from MAPW’s Assoc Prof Tilman Ruff, with Russ telling the Lancet:
“The long gap in WHO updating our understanding of the effects of nuclear weapons—the greatest acute existential risk to people and the biosphere—simply must be filled.”
MAPW has advocated to the Australian government to support a renewed mandate at the May 2025 World Health Assembly.