Policy Forum 2: HIV, Security and Globalisation

Supported by the World Bank

While globalisation has become a catchall phrase, it is still a useful conceptual tool for understanding the framework of the epidemic, both the spread and the response. HIV has spread with the increased interaction that can be linked to the economic, cultural and social changes referred to as globalisation. HIV is most often seen as a hindrance to economic development, however economic development can be a causal factor in the spread of HIV due to increasing mobility and interaction. Economic dislocation and large-scale social breakdown resulting in increasing social instability such as Zimbabwe and the Philippines, has caused a rapid increase in the incidence of HIV. Rapid urbanisation, increasing inequality, pressures on youth, particularly young women, due to rapid changes in social and cultural structures are just some of the factors of globalisation that can be linked to the spread of HIV. The remarkable mobilisation of disparate organisations, community and government, globally and regionally, that is an element of the response to HIV is linked to globalisation in its dependence on modern technology to establish and maintain interaction and communication. If security is seen as the protection of human life, and national security as the protection of citizens from all threats then the link between HIV and security are established. Security must be more than military security if the increase in the proportions of the epidemic has the ability to undermine the nations social and economic stability.