Hiroshima and the World: We can imagine and build a world free of nuclear weapons

by Tilman Ruff

Tilman Ruff Tilman Ruff was born in Adelaide in 1955. He graduated in medicine from Monash University (1980) and completed internal medicine training at Prince Henry's and Fairfield Infectious Diseases Hospital (1988). His preventive medicine work encompasses immunisation and the urgent public health imperative to abolish nuclear weapons. He is Associate Professor, Nossal Institute for Global Health, University of Melbourne; Australian Red Cross International Medical Advisor; and technical advisor to the Australian government and UNICEF on Pacific immunisation programs. Mr. Ruff chairs the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN); is a Board member of International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (Nobel Peace Laureate 1985), and past national president of the Medical Association for Prevention of War (Australia).

We can imagine and build a world free of nuclear weapons

My life changed in Hiroshima 20 years ago. In October 1989, my daughter was 7, my son 18 months old. I arrived for the Ninth World Congress of International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, checked into the hotel, and for the first time passed not urine but copious blood. A few months later I underwent radical surgery for aggressive cancer of the bladder. Such experiences remind one of the precious and fragile gifts of life and health, that neither can ever be taken for granted, that every day should be fully lived, and that one should focus on what matters.

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