ICN’s Megumi Yamaura-Teshima brings the voice of nursing to World Prevention of Nuclear War Congress in Nagasaki

ICN Second Vice President calls for global nuclear disarmament and highlights nurses’ leadership in peacebuilding

The International Council of Nurses (ICN) in close collaboration with the Japanese Nursing Association (JNA) brought the powerful voice of the global nursing profession to the 24th World Congress of the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW), held under the theme “A World Without Nuclear Weapons – Nagasaki as the last A-bombed city.”

Representing the voice of 30 million nurses worldwide, ICN Second Vice President Megumi Yamaura-Teshima delivered a moving address urging the full prohibition and elimination of nuclear weapons and reaffirming the vital link between health and peace.

“Health and peace are inseparable,” said Yamaura-Teshima. “As nurses — the most trusted profession in the world — we have both a duty and a moral responsibility to speak out against all threats to life, including nuclear weapons.”

In Nagasaki, where the Congress was held, Yamaura-Teshima honoured the memory of nurses who survived and cared for victims of the 1945 atomic bombing — including Hisamatsu Shisono, later awarded the Florence Nightingale Medal. She said: “Their courage reminds us why Nagasaki must remain the last city ever bombed by nuclear weapons. There is no political, military, or economic justification that outweighs the imperative to eliminate nuclear weapons.”

Japanese Nursing Association President Tomoya Akiyama commented:

“This year marks eighty years since the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It was highly significant that Professor Megumi Yamaura-Teshima, ICN Second Vice President, represented ICN and nursing professionals around the world at the 24th IPPNW World Congress, speaking as one of the nursing professionals aspiring for peace in this historic occasion.

‘Eighty years ago, in 1945, the atomic bombings reduced the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki to ruins, claiming numerous lives and causing significant suffering. The high heat from the intense heat rays of the atomic bombs caused fires and people suffered severe burns. The strong blast collapsed buildings, threw people off their feet, and stroke them with glass and wood fragments. The effects of radiation caused extensive damage. Even after all these years, radiation damage has continued to affect the Hibakusha, atomic bomb survivors, for many years. Eighty years after the bombing, some of the Hibakusha have finally begun to speak out to pass on memories and hope of peace to the next generation. The impact of trauma, post-traumatic stress disorder and other disorders has been as significant as the physical effects.

‘Nurses carried out relief work for survivors even though they were also directly exposed to the bombing. Nurses also came from other areas to provide medical aid. These nurses, as well as the nurses who cared for the survivors and transported them to their hospitals, were also indirectly exposed to radiation. Regardless of whether they were directly or indirectly exposed, some of them found it difficult to continue with relief work due to the physical effects of radiation. The JNA wishes to express its deepest respect for all the nurses who were involved in frontline relief work and provided nursing care.

‘As nursing professionals who support and sustain human life, living and dignity, JNA expresses our solidarity with ICN #NursesforPeace campaign. The JNA strongly hopes for a peaceful world so that people will never again be harmed by nuclear weapons and that their future will not be lost.”

ICN’s #NursesforPeace campaign, launched in solidarity with nurses in Ukraine and other conflict zones, has become a worldwide movement providing humanitarian relief and promoting peace, the safety of healthcare workers, and ethical leadership in crisis and conflict. ICN continues to champion the protection of health workers and civilians through #NursesforPeace, its Humanitarian Fund, and partnership with Direct Relief.

At its recent Helsinki Congress, ICN’s governing body adopted an emergency resolution condemning escalating assaults on health services, demanding compliance with international humanitarian law, and calling for accountability for violations.

ICN President Dr José Luis Cobos Serrano has written to UN Secretary-General António Guterres urging immediate action to end attacks on health care in conflict zones and to guarantee safe access to food, care, and humanitarian aid.

Yamaura-Teshima echoed the earlier words of Secretary-General Guterres in her speech, reminding delegates that “Humanity is just one misunderstanding, one miscalculation away from nuclear annihilation.”

The ICN Second Vice President also called for greater investment in nursing education and leadership, urging governments to include nurses in disaster and peace policy-making, saying: “We need nurses at the planning table — not only responding after crises, but shaping policies that prevent them.”

Yamaura-Teshima closed her address with a message of hope, citing the words of Princess Aiko:

“Peace is not something to be left to others; it is built through each person's thoughts and responsible actions.’ Nuclear weapons are an existential threat to humanity. They belong in no one’s hands. On behalf of nurses everywhere, I urge us all to act responsibly — to finally realize a world without nuclear weapons.”