The National Security Implications of HIV/AIDS

June 2006 | Volume 3 | Issue 6 | e171 Two leaders in the global fi ght against HIV/AIDS—Richard Feachem, Executive Director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria, and Peter Piot, Executive Director of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS)—have recently argued that HIV represents an extraordinary national security threat [1,2]. Their intent has been to appeal to the material and strategic interests of states in order to increase high-level commitment to the fi ght against HIV/AIDS. While increased engagement by political leaders is clearly welcome, a public health perspective on the linkage between public health and national security has so far been missing. The benefi ts and dangers of justifying efforts to address the pandemic in terms of its impact on national security are underappreciated. Despite the high-profi le linking of HIV/AIDS and security, including four United Nations Security Council (UNSC) meetings and prominent mention within the United States national security strategy, critical debate about the ways in which public health interacts with the security interests of states are scarce in public health journals. Journals have examined the ways national security issues, including the recent war in Iraq and the Israeli–Palestinian confl ict [3,4], have negatively affected public health. However, the ways public health affects national security interests have rarely been considered. It is essential to examine this debate, including evidence for the links between HIV/ AIDS and national security, from a public health perspective because of the implications this linkage has for the direction and funding of global HIV/ AIDS efforts. This paper argues for greater understanding and analysis of the public health–national security nexus to ensure this linkage benefi ts the fi ght against HIV/AIDS. Successfully negotiating this nexus is essential because the humanitarian objectives of global health do not fi t easily into the state-centered perspective of national security. Global health works to improve the health of all people within and across states, while the national security fi eld works to protect the people, property, and interests of only one state. This article will present the unique national security perspective on the HIV/AIDS pandemic and evidence on the links between HIV/AIDS and national security, and will evaluate the risks and benefi ts of addressing HIV/ AIDS as a national security issue.