A new international initiative, the Global Coalition for WHO Action on Firearm Violence, will be officially launching on 10 February 2026, bringing together nearly 100 organisations from more than 30 countries across public health, medicine, injury prevention, gender justice, human rights, arms control and survivor advocacy. The Coalition is urging stronger and more coherent leadership from the World Health Organization on firearm violence as a preventable public health issue.
The launch is marked by a global webinar presenting new research titled Tracking WHO Attention to Gun Violence, 2000 to 2025. The study offers the most comprehensive analysis to date of how firearm violence has been addressed within WHO governance over the past 25 years. It draws on a review of World Health Assembly resolutions, an analysis of WHO violence prevention publications and expert interviews.
Pascal Rudin, Interim Secretary General of the International Federation of Social Workers and a member of the Coalition’s Steering Committee, emphasised the human and systemic impacts of firearm violence:
“Gun violence is a profound social and public health challenge. Social workers around the world see how it affects families, communities and already strained health and social systems. A stronger and more explicit engagement from WHO can help shift the focus toward prevention, care and long term community recovery. This Coalition creates an important platform to align evidence, practice and global policy in a more coherent way.”
He added that this engagement is in line with the growing understanding that social work and the health sector must collaborate more closely to address the complex and interconnected issues faced in a globalised world: “Strengthening partnerships between social and health professionals is essential to provide holistic prevention, protection and recovery pathways for communities“.