"In the aftermath of September 11, 2001, the United States tends to
define all national security concerns through the prism of terrorism.
That framework is overly limited even for the U.S. and an absurdly
narrow template to apply to the security of most other countries. The
HIV/AIDS pandemic is aggravating a laundry list of underlying tensions
[such as military instability, domination by tiny groups of wealthy
elites, a surplus of unskilled labor and an unprecedented
youth-population bulge] in developing, declining and failed states.
“As
the burden of death due to HIV/AIDS skyrockets around the world over
the next five to 10 years, the disease may well play a more profound
role on the security stage of many nations and present the wealthy
world with a challenge the likes of which it has never experienced. How
countries, rich and poor, frame HIV/AIDS within their national security
debates today may well determine how well they respond to the
massive grief, demographic destruction and security threats that the
pandemic will present tomorrow.”
—Laurie Garrett, “The Lesson of HIV/AIDS,” July/August 2005 Foreign Affairs (www.foreignaffairs.org)
