AIDS, Not Terrorism, World’s Most Serious Problem, Former U.N. Ambassador Holbrooke Says
Despite the immediacy of concerns such as terrorism and the crisis in the Middle East, HIV/AIDS is "the single most serious issue in the world today," former United States U.N. Ambassador Richard Holbrooke said in a speech yesterday at Virginia's Old Dominion University, the Norfolk Virginian-Pilot reports. Holbrooke, who received five Nobel Peace Prize nominations for brokering the agreement that brought peace in Bosnia, called HIV/AIDS the "worst health crisis in at least 700 years" and noted that the disease is "attacking the social and political fabrics of countries and undermining their opportunities for advancement." He added that 8,000 people die daily from the disease (Germanotta, Norfolk Virginian-Pilot, 4/5). Holbrooke now heads the Global Business Council on HIV and AIDS (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 6/27/01).
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