Dear MPW students and friends:
ICAN receives the Nobel Peace Prize 2017 - we are proud and happy! ICAN has contributed to one of the six case topics of our MPW MOOC, which just started its 2nd round. Interested in an essay writing competition? Read more and spread the word.
Best wishes
Klaus Melf
1. Nobel Peace Prize 2017
What an excitement when the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), five days ago, was announced the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize 2017! The prize comes at the right time when Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un are openly threatening with nuclear extinction.
For the last ten years, ICAN has tireless worked to mobilize and inform the public and decision makers on the humanitarian consequences of nuclear weapons. With its nearly 500 member organizations, ICAN has firmly campaigned for an international ban treaty and succeeded on July 7 2017: 122 UN member states adopted the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.
The massive attention in the next two months on ICAN and on the danger of a nuclear explosion will speed up the ratification process of the ban treaty, and it will increase the pressure on the nuclear weapon states & their allies to stop their immoral and illegal nuclear activities.
The prize strengthens and honours ICAN and many medical peace practitioners around the globe in their existential primary preventive peace-health-work - for human survival.
Congratulations!
Watch the announcement by the Nobel Committee at https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/2017/announcement.html
2. Second round of the 12 hours MPW MOOC
During October and November, the University of Bergen offers a new run of our interactive MPW MOOC (massive open online course) on the role of healthcare in maintaining and building peaceful societies. This MOOC will help you to understand how violence affects health and how medical peace work has an impact on health, violence prevention and peace-building. ICAN staff has contributed to the development of one of the six case topics.
The course included two hours of training per week and uses the following cases:
* Health responses to a nuclear explosion
* Peace-health work in war and post-war areas
* Healthcare for refugees
* Recognising and healing the effects of torture
* Health effects of climate change
* Preventing and addressing domestic violence
This MOOC is differently from our seven MPW online courses on this Moodle platform, as it is moderated and uses a case-based learning approach. You will gain not only from the presented content, but also from the shared reflections and experiences of the other participants.
The Norwegian Medical Association has accredited this course with 12 CME points for all medical specialties.
The course run already started on October 2nd and is freely available until November 26th. If you are not already enrolled in this exciting peer learning process, please join in now at: https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/medical-peace-work
3. The Holdstock-Piachaud Essay Prize
For the eighth year, the medical peace journal Medicine, Conflict and Survival has announced a student essay writing competition. With the Holdstock-Piachaud Essay Prize it wants to encourage students to explore different peace-health topics.
The call for this year is linked to the Medact/IPPNW Health through Peace 2017 Congress, which in September took place at the University of York. It brought together 400 health professionals and peace activists from across the world to debate key conflict and public health issues for our changing and unstable world.
The announcement asks especially for commentaries on the following issues:
• The securitisation of health: towards a safer world or wolf in sheep’s clothing?
• One hundred and twenty-two countries signed the 2017 Treaty on the Abolition of Nuclear Weapons: a glass half full or glass half empty for a nuclear free world?
• International weapons treaties – immunization programs for global health?
• Mortality data in conflict situations: what can we believe?
• Is collective responsibility for the health consequences of forced migration possible?
Deadline for submission is January 31st, 2018.
You can find more details in the attached flyer.