AIDS and Security
| Date | 01 December 2003 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0047117803174002 |
| Author | Dennis Altman |
| Published date | 01 December 2003 |
| Subject Matter | Journal Article |
International Relations Copyright © 2003 SAGE Publications
(London, Thousand Oaks, CA and New Delhi), Vol 17(4): 417–427
[0047–1178 (200312) 17:4; 417–427; 038931]
AIDS and Security
Dennis Altman, LaTrobe University, Australia
Abstract
The war on terrorism has drawn attention to non-conventional threats to security, even
as it led to conventional warfare in the case of the attack on Iraq. HIV/AIDS is arguably
an even greater threat to security, with the effect of destabilizing the social and
economic order to the extent that the very survival of entire nations is at stake. This
article examines both the security implications of AIDS, and the various international
responses aimed at slowing its spread and mitigating its impact.
Keywords: AIDS, globalization, human security, South Africa, UNAIDS
The defense this nation seeks involves a great deal more than building air-
planes, ships, guns and bombs. We cannot be a strong nation unless we are a
healthy nation.
President Roosevelt, 19401
In mid-1999, the South African government placed orders for three new
submarines for approximately US$680 million dollars. At the time, something like
1500 people a day were becoming infected by HIV, and the government was
increasingly criticized for its failures in both prevention and treatment. South
Africa is a particularly appropriate example of the larger political aspects of the
epidemic because its government has sought to engage with the larger dimensions
of the epidemic, while enraging many activists through its specific responses.
South Africa has experienced bitter domestic debates on the adequacy of its
response, particularly around the reluctance of the government to provide anti-
retroviral therapy (indeed, whether HIV is the primary cause of AIDS).2In 2001,
the South African government used the courts to battle attempts by international
pharmaceutical companies to place restrictions on the availability of generic
drugs, but this has not necessarily resulted in the sort of national plan for access to
both treatments and prevention associated with Brazil.3One might legitimately
ask whether the money spent on expanding its naval forces would not more
appropriately be spent on fighting HIV/AIDS.
If the primary aim of the state is to protect the lives of its citizens, then risks to
security can come in many forms other than those of conventional warfare. The
discipline of International Relations has gradually been coming to terms with this
argument, although with some reluctance, given its continued dependence on
seeing states and the relations between them as central, which makes it difficult to
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