Global Threat: The HIV/AIDS Epidemic

Our visit to PEPFAR highlighted how the magnitude of the HIV/AIDS global epidemic in some areas of the world has turned the disease into a threat to political and economic security. A threat, in reference to the HIV/AIDS epidemic, is a danger to society that would drastically and negatively alter the peace, health, and strength of a country. These three areas have all been impacted by the spread of HIV/AIDS thus leading those countries or geographic locations effected by the disease as threats to global peace and security.

In early 2000, the UN Security Council came together through UNAIDS, and declared the disease as a threat to international peace and security. A positive consequence that came out of this was that the issue of HIV/AIDS and its security threat enjoyed an increase in intellectual profile. This shaped the global response to the pandemic. PEPFAR, as was shown in our presentation, was a great example of the Bush Administration’s response to addressing the threat of this disease. The establishment of PEPFAR has already begun to leave a substantial impact for those regions affected with HIV/AIDS all around the world. “In fact, the last weeks of the Bush administration, the National Intelligence Council published Strategic Implications of Global Health, that emphasized HIV/AIDS economic costs and identified “medical diplomacy” as an opportunity for US leadership”. This report can also be read as a plea to the incoming Obama administration to continue funding and support of PEPFAR.

A topic we have begun to discuss in class is the change in security in the post-cold war era. After the end of the cold war, security was understood to encompass more than just armed conflict; it additionally hoped to incorporate the ability of people to live safe, healthy, and productive lives. If the human security approach is focused on improving not only the survival of the state but also the survival and welfare of individual human beings, then HIV/AIDS must be raised to an important security issue within this framework. “HIV/AIDS is already among the five most frequent causes of death worldwide”. In Africa the illness even vies for the unenviable position of posing the greatest human security threat. “In Africa HIV/AIDS is not only the leading cause of death; it is also estimated to cause more than ten times as many deaths as armed conflict”. AIDS thus already poses a numerically greater risk to the survival and welfare of individuals in Africa than armed conflict.

Finally, the growing HIV/AIDS pandemic also has security concerns in terms of political stability in these regions. “Four countries in sub-Saharan Africa where HIV prevalence is estimated to exceed thirty percent: Botswana (38.8%), Lesotho (31%), Swaziland (33.4%) and Zimbabwe (33.7%)”. These numbers raise important questions about the long term impact of how such prevalent rates effect the country’s political stability. However, although HIV/AIDS is unlikely to generate the state’s collapse independently of other factors, high rates of HIV/AIDS nevertheless continues to pose a threat to society.

In conclusion, in order to help address the global threat of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, international policy-makers begin to acknowledge these dimensions more widely. The United States and the UN Security Council have taken steps through the establishment of PEPFAR and UNAIDS to try and prevent HIV/AIDS from spreading and to educate people regarding the disease. However, in order to make any large impacts to global society, this movement must be an international effort by several countries. If not addressed soon by more countries, the global threat of this epidemic will only increase and the disturbance to international peace and security could affect our world in global proportions.

Sources

UNAIDS, Report on the Global HIV/AIDS Epidemic (Geneva: July 2002), 33

Mark Schneider and Michael Moodie, The Destabilizing Impacts of HIV/AIDS, (Washington, D.C.: Center for Strategic and International Studies, May 2002), p. 6.

National Intelligence Council, Global Trends 2015, 17.

UNAIDS, AIDS Epidemic Update (Geneva: December 2003), 3.

UNDP, Human Development Report 1994, 22.