As independent organizations within a global federation, IPPNW affiliates engage in a wide variety of activities related to war, health, social justice, and environmentalism.

In 1961, future IPPNW founder Dr. Bernard Lown formed prevenient sister organization, the US Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR) at Harvard, concerned about the medical effects of nuclear weapons and war.

On 10 December 1985, IPPNW was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for "perform[ing] a considerable service to mankind by spreading authoritative information and by creating an awareness of the catastrophic consequences of atomic warfare."

[10] During the Nobel Peace Prize award ceremony, 200 to 300 human rights advocates protested outside, citing co-recipient Dr. Yevgeny Chazof of partaking and being complicit with the 1972 political attacks against ex-Soviet physicist Dr. Andrei D. Sakharov, who himself won the 1975 Nobel Peace Prize [11] On 12 November, Heiner Geisler of the Christian Democratic Union of Germany wrote a letter to the award committee denouncing Dr. Chazof and informing the committee of his actions.

In its first five years, IPPNW, working closely with its US affiliate Physicians for Social Responsibility and IPPNW-Russia, educated health professionals, political leaders, and the public about the medical and environmental consequences of nuclear warfare.

[1][2] The Nobel Committee, in its announcement of the award, said IPPNW "has performed a considerable service to mankind by spreading authoritative information and by creating an awareness of the catastrophic consequences of atomic warfare."

In October 2007, IPPNW and the Royal Society of Medicine co-sponsored a major conference in London to review the current state of knowledge about the effects of nuclear weapons.

Aiming for Prevention has been driven by IPPNW affiliates from the global South—primarily Sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, and South Asia—whose members live and work in areas where armed violence is a constant threat and consumes significant portions of health care budgets.

As part of Aiming for Prevention, IPPNW participated in a broad-based global coalition of civil society organizations that campaigned successfully for passage of the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT).

[17] Continuing medical education courses in the emerging field of peace through health have been developed by IPPNW with university affiliates in Norway, Denmark, the UK, and Canada.