News & Events

First international congress on Health for peace

14-16 Nov Shiraz- Iran

Dr Arun Mitra – Co President IPPNW & Senior Vice President IDPD and

Dr Shakeel Ur Rahman – General Secretary IDPD participated in the congress.

The International Congress on Health for Peace was held in Shiraz from 14-16 November 2018 and hosted by Shiraz University of Medical Sciences.

Dr. Imanieh was a pediatrician, a faculty member of the Shiraz University of Medical Sciences and a consultant to the Minister of Health in Student Affairs, who presided over this congress. Dr. Salehi, the epidemiologist and faculty member of the Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, was the scientific secretary of the congress and Dr. Molavi, an epidemiologist. The faculty members of the Shiraz University of Medical Sciences were secretary of the congress.

The Congressional Policy Committee, chaired by Dr. Malekzadeh, Deputy Director of Research and Technology, was the Minister of Health and Medical Education, and at the Ministry of Health, from about six months before the congress, organized regular monthly meetings to examine the various aspects of congressional issues. Compilation of indices and design of various congressional panels. The meeting was attended by bosses and panel administrators, the Presidency of the Congress, the scientific and executive secretary of the Congress, and representatives of international organizations such as the World Health Organization, the Red Cross, UNICEF, UNESCO, the Red Crescent Society and the IPPNW Nuclear Warfare Association.

The Peace Museum of Tehran, as the headquarters of the Iranian Representative of the IRPSR (Iranian Social Responsibility Doctors) Corps, was well-respected at the Congress, supporting the invitation of foreign guests from 4 different countries (Sweden, Germany, England and India) to the presence of guests and foreign professors in the congress has been of great help.

The Veterans Institute of Engineering and Medical Sciences also had a strong presence at the Congress by organizing a panel on the health problems of Iranians and also by inviting foreign guests to work with the Peace Museum of Tehran.

Fars Provincial Governorate, Shiraz Governorate and Municipality and Cultural Heritage and Tourism Organization of Fars province, with their material and spiritual support, helped to organize this congress as well.

The program of the panels held at the Congress is attached to the report.

The guests invited by the Institute of Veterans of Engineers and Medical Sciences of Veterans and the Peace Museum of Tehran were:

1- Dr. Gunnar Westberg, chairman of the SLMK and retired members of the board of directors of the IPPNW

2. Dr. Rebecca Johnson is responsible for the ICAN Financial Committee, members of MEDACT in the United Kingdom and international peace activists.

3- Dr. Arun Mitra, co-president IPPNW & Senior Vice President IDPD. 

4- Dr. Shakeel Rahman – General Secretary IDPD.

5. Dr. Katja Goebbels, Member of the Board of the German IPPNW Board

6. Dr. Aino from the board of ICAN Germany

From this list, the second guest, namely, Dr. Johnson, did not receive a visa at the right time and did not attend the congress.

• Prof Vappu Taiple, Ilka Taipale and Dr Michele Di Paolantonio also send their video message and full text for the congress.
• Other guests participated in the Panel on the Role of Public Institutions in Promoting Health for Peace, one of the most effective panels, and throughout the panel on topics such as the effects of nuclear weapons, climate change and online peace education for students. The field of medical science and the role of women in promoting health for peace was discussed. Dr Katja Goebbels, IPPNW Germany, talked about the difficulties to apply the Do-no-harm concept in certain working situations of war and conflict. She also said that IPPNW Germany is holding organising medical peace work online programme. The panelists also described IPPNW and ICAN activities on behalf of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons passed in 2017 at the United Nations and eventually surprised the participating members by unveiling an official replica of the Nobel Peace Medallion, which IPPNW received in 1985 and ICAN received in 2017. Dr. Arun Mitra, co-President of IPPNW, and Dr. Gunnar Westberg, a former member of the board of IPPNW, thanked the Tehran Peace Museum and the Organization of Iranian Physicians, PSR Society of Iran, and ICAN Iran for their work in supporting IPPNW and ICAN's work, and acknowledged and congratulated these organizations for their share in the honor of the two Nobel Peace Prizes through their continued affiliation with IPPNW and ICAN and their work on behalf of our common international goal of nuclear weapons abolition.
• Dr Shakeel Ur Rahman gave a presentation on Health Status of People Living around Jadugoda Uranium mines.
• The Tehran Peace Museum and the Chemical Weapons Victims Association participated in the Congressional Exhibit to illustrate the history of Saddam's chemical attacks against Iran during the imposed war. Also, with the support of the company, several of the chemical injuries in the exhibition were added as a narrator on the effectiveness of this booth.
• Mrs. Koniko Yamamura, the mother of Martyr Babaei, also traveled to Orihami at the Peace Museum pavilion. Representatives of the Red Cross, the World Health Organization and UNICEF visited the exhibition and talked with volunteers from the Tehran Peace Museum and chemical warfare victims that they described the attacks as crimes against humanity and expressed sympathy with the victims.
• Participants at the congress also visited the tomb of Hafez and Saadi in two days and became acquainted with the cultural attractions of Shiraz.

The Iran-Iran Health Impact Panel, which was conducted by the Veterans' Engineering and Veterinary Research Institute, was accompanied by the presence of chemical victims and greatly influenced the screening of documentaries from the severe chemical injury victims.

On the last day of the congress, a joint panel was held with the presence of the representative of Ayatollah Khamenei in Shiraz, a group of religious scholars and medical ethics, and read the message of Dr. MohaqeqDamad of Iran's great jurisprudents and university professors in the field of jurisprudence and ethics. Reviewing the opinions and opinions of religious jurists in the field of peace and medical ethics.

The noon of November 16, with the presence of Dr. Malekzadeh, the Deputy Minister and Head of the Health Research Center of the Ministry of Health and Medical Education, was held at the closing ceremony of Congress, and ended with a final statement by the secretary-general of the Congress of International Contracts.

The final statement is attached.

Five policy sessions were held before the congress and two sessions after the congress was held, scheduled for congressional meetings and assessment of congressional feedback.

The first book of the congress was published a month before the congress and the second congressional book was published one month after the congress.