Appeal from Medact

On this day in 1945, the US military dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, killing over 100,000 souls in a single act of unspeakable violence.

We mark this day every year at Medact. It reminds us of our mission to end preventable and premature deaths by such senseless atrocities. And this year is special. In January 2021, the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons came into force. Nuclear weapons are BANNED.

But in the UK, the government refuses to do its moral duty, and now its duty under international law. Instead, it has committed £BILLIONS towards expanding the UK’s stockpile. This comes at a time when over 150,000 people in the UK alone have died of COVID-19, and our NHS is straining from the virus and years of austerity.

It’s as clear now as ever: We need beds, not bombs!

Will you help us advocate for a society that puts health first by making a donation to Medact today?

Way back in 1987, we first made the call for Beds Bot Bombs, as the Medical Campaign Against Nuclear Weapons. This message is more urgent now than ever before.

The second year of the pandemic has continued to expose long-running health inequities both in the UK and worldwide.

Yet again, UK health workers have had to spread themselves so thin this year. We know we need huge investment in the NHS and wide-ranging measures to reduce health inequity. In this context, the government’s choice to spend billions more of public money on weapons of mass destruction is unbelievable.

Today, 76 years since the bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, it’s time to step back and consider what our society values most.

Will you make a donation of £30 today to sustain our vital campaigns for health equity?

With the pressures of the pandemic, it’s becoming harder for charities like Medact to raise the funds we need for the work we do.

If you make a cash gift of £30 today, or however much you can afford right now, you will support an independent and powerful movement of health workers fighting for justice and fighting for a world where everyone can exercise their human right to health. Alternatively, you can join Medact as a member by making a regular donation, and help sustain and grow this movement in the difficult years to come.

This year and every year, we appreciate everyone in our movement, and every penny that you are able to donate to support it.

Thank you for all that you do,

The Medact Team

P.S. We hope you can join us at an exciting IPPNW film-stream event this Monday, 9th August: “The Vow from Hiroshima” – an intimate portrait of Setsuko Thurlow, a passionate, 89-year-old survivor of the atomic bombing. The film will be followed by comments from Setsuko Thurlow herself, and a discussion on the importance of medical student activism. Register now to access the film stream and discussion.