HIV/AIDS Impacts National Security, Researchers Say

"The National Security Implications of HIV/AIDS," PLoS Medicine: Harley Feldbaum of the Centre on Global Change and Health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and colleagues examined the link between HIV/AIDS and national security. According to the researchers, HIV/AIDS is creating potential risks to national, regional and global security. However, "the linkage between public health and national security has so far been missing," the study finds. The researchers wrote that there are three main instances in which HIV/AIDS is linked to national security: the impact of the disease on individuals who are critical to international security, such as peacekeepers and soldiers; the impact of the disease in some sub-Saharan African nations, which could cause national instability; and the impact of the pandemic on "strategically important states" such as China, India and Russia (Feldbaum et al., PLoS Medicine, 6/13).