An editorial on "Ending nuclear weapons, before they end us" was published in 134 leading medical journals around the world. The editorial contributed to restoring WHO's mandate to report in this area with a resolution passed at the World Health Assembly last week - 86 votes for, 14 votes against.
WHO had abandoned its mandate in 2020 and last produced a report on nuclear weapons and health about 40 years ago.
With this new mandate, WHO will now work towards producing an analysis of how nuclear weapons affect health. Clearly health effects come not only from the explosion of such weapons, but their storage, testing, upgrading and disposal. All of these have health implications.
There is a copy of the editorial on the BMJ site, which also carries a list of the publishing journals: https://www.bmj.com/content/389/bmj.r881
Best,
Chris
Chris Zielinski
Centre for Global Health, University of Winchester, UK and
President, World Association of Medical Editors (WAME)
Blogs; http://ziggytheblue.wordpress.com and http://ziggytheblue.tumblr.com
Publications: http://www.researchgate.net and https://winchester.academia.edu/ChrisZielinski/
HIFA Profile: Chris Zielinski held senior positions at the World Health Organization for 15 years, in Africa, WHOs Geneva Headquarters, and India, and earlier in other UN-system organizations working in writing, media, publishing, knowledge management, and intellectual property. He also spent three years as Chief Executive of the Authors Licensing and Collecting Society (looking after the intellectual property revenues of all UK authors and journalists). Chris was the founder of the ExtraMED project (Third World biomedical journals on CD-ROM), and managed the Gates Foundation-supported Health Information Centres project. At WHO he was appointed to the Ethical Review Committee, and was an originator of the African Health Observatory during his years in Brazzaville. With interests in the information, and computer ethics and bioethics, Chris has edited numerous books and journals and worked as a translator. Now working independently, Chris has recently finished writing a travel book called Afreekinout. Email: chris AT chriszielinski.com