It was a historic event when doctors from 44 countries gathered at Washington DC, USA from 1^st May, 2002 to 5^th May, 2002 to express their concern over the threat to man kind due to amassment of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) including nuclear, biological and chemical ones. The congress began with lobbying of congressional representatives by the IPPNW leadership to impress upon them the need to eliminate WMD from earth. The doctors gathered in the afternoon of 2^nd  May at Capitol Hill in Washington and held a rally which was addressed among others by Marry Wyne Ashford President of the IPPNW and Roy Farrell. President, Physicians for Social Responsibility  (PSR) USA. The rally paid homage to the victims of terrorist violence at World Trade Center on 11 September, 2001. “But it is important to know the cause of terrorism the world over” said Roy Farrell in his address. Rally felt that terrorism can not be tackled with force alone and no one should use such an event as excuse  to attack others and spread terror there. US administration most of the times aided and abetted such autocratic regimes but denounced them at their own convenience. That way, the rally declared, President Gorge Bush is the biggest terrorist in the world.

Congress focused its attention on the strategies to make the planet worth survival for the man kind, the congress was therefore  named the  as SUMMIT FOR SURVIVAL.  In this context major issues which were discussed  included, how to stop further proliferation of nuclear weapons, how to make the people aware of the effect these weapons can have on life per se, about how and why the  culture of violence which have developed over the years, the problem relating to landmines, the economic effects of arm race, problems of migrants and refugees of war, tensions in different regions of the world, and also the  environmental degradation.

David Suzuki a leading environmentalist from Canada gave and exciting discourse on how man himself has landed into trouble as a result of exploitation of nature. He called upon the audience to treat nature as their mother. Like wise Ray Anderson an other environmentalist also dwelt on importance of control over emissions which have become major cause of global warming.

It was Nobel Price winner Joseph Rotblat who in a very elaborative and emotive way emphasised the need for preserving peace if mankind has to survive. It was needed that any notion to weaponise the space be rejected by all and the nuclear weapons taken off alert.

Bobby Muller was very hard on the serious problems caused by the landmines. He himself has been victim of these during the Vietnam war where he had to serve as a soldier. But it was very inspiring to see him move around the world seated on a wheel chair meeting people, organizing victims and lobbying the decision  makers.

Of interest was to hear from Arjun Makhijani when he brought about the facts that how those working in and living around the nuclear research stations fell prey to the radiations .They were paid heavily to keep their mouth shut on this score. This made the research work all the more difficult. This  also exposed that nuclear weapon states cared for their fellow countrymen.  

Congress was addressed by five senators in different sessions who very equivocally spelt out need to eliminate nuclear weapons. They felt that US who possesses maximum number of war heads should be the leader in this process before giving advice to others.

But whole congress was extremely serious  over the two issues the crises in  Middle East and situation in south Asia particularly Indo-Pak relations. Congress was highly concerned about South Asian situation. The congress therefore handed over a PEACE QUILT   Dr.L.S.Chawla, President of   Indian Doctors for Peace and Development (IDPD) and Dr.Tipu Sultan President  Pakistan Doctors for Peace and Development (PDPD) with a hope  that this would bridge  bonds between the  two countries.

South Asian doctors took this opportunity to sit together and discussed the strategy defuse tension in the region. In this context they issued a following joint statement:

Letter to Prime Minister Vajpayee

Letter to Pakistan's President Musharraf