HIV/AIDS must be viewed as a security crisis with the potential to affect peoples, states and the international community in a similar fashion to more traditional forms of conflict. This is the message of a special ICG report, HIV/AIDS as a Security Issue, published in advance of the UN General Assembly Special Session on AIDS on 25 June 2001.

HIV/AIDS is profoundly destabilising in several important ways. When prevalent in epidemic proportions, HIV/AIDS can destroy, like war, the fundamental elements of a nation: individuals, families and communities; economic and social institutions; military and police forces. In this sense, HIV/AIDS undercuts human security, harming economic and social stability and breaking down governance and social cohesion.

The cross-border consequences of HIV/AIDS also have the potential to undermine international security, not only in Africa, but in other countries that are considered vital to international stability, such as China, India, Russia and Ukraine.

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