HIV/Aids is a global threat on a par with nuclear terrorism, according to a United Nations report that warned of the potential of viral infections to claim tens of millions of lives worldwide in a matter of months.
The report, commissioned by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and released on Tuesday, warned wealthy nations that, in an age of globalisation and mass travel, they ignored the scourge of HIV/Aids and other infectious illnesses at their own peril.
While sub-Saharan Africa and Asia account for the majority of HIV infections, the report said the security of the most affluent countries could be “held hostage” to the ability of the poorest states to contain an emerging disease.
“Because international flight times are shorter than the incubation periods for many infectious diseases, any one of 700-million international airline passengers every year can be an unwitting global disease-carrier,” it said.
Citing the death of 100-million people worldwide from the influenza pandemic of 1919, the report said that, today, a similar virus “could kill tens of millions in a fraction of the time”.
Highlighting the absence of any strategy to counter the long-term affects of HIV/Aids, it said it could be compared to nuclear proliferation, terrorism and inter-state conflict.
“International response to HIV/Aids was shockingly slow and remains shamefully ill-resourced,” the report said, raising the quesion of whether much more would have been done if the disease had reduced life expectancy by 30 years “in non-African countries”.
Despite an increase in international spending to combat HIV/Aids from $250-million in 1996 to $2,8-billion in 2002, the report said the spread of the disease remained “rampant,” and estimated the cost of stemming infection rates at $10-billion annually.
The warnings about HIV/Aids formed part of the report’s underlying message that the international community needed a new consensus on global security that encompasses threats to both developing and developed nations and treats them with equal seriousness.
“Some believe that HIV/Aids is a horrible disease, but not a security threat,” the report said, calling for leadership at domestic and international levels to act swiftly and collectively against all threats “from HIV/Aids to nuclear terrorism, before
they have their most devastating effect”.
As an example of collective action, the report cited the success in limiting the recent Sars outbreak.
“Rapid response by the World Health Organisation and national agencies contained the spread of the disease and prevented a far more serious outbreak that could have threatened thousands of lives on several continents.
“No state could have achieved this degree of containment of the disease in isolation,” it said.
On the same day the report was released, the head of the UN Aids programme said the number of HIV infections in China, India and Russia was on the verge of exploding into a crisis that could lead to tens of millions of new cases and threaten the stability of the world economy.
“There is something new and ominous in the course of this epidemic,” Peter Piot told reporters.
“When the very act essential to furthering the human race also threatens it, then we are in a very dangerous place.” – Sapa-AFP
Estimated worldwide HIV infections: 60 094 374