Fri, Jan 24, 2025 | Rajab 24, 1446 | DXB ktweather icon0°C

AIDS spread can spark `chaos and instability'

ABU DHABI - A study published by the Abu Dhabi-based Emirates Centre for Strategic Studies and Research says that by the end of 2002 about 42 million people were living with HIV/AIDS, while another 20 million had already died of AIDS.

Published: Sun 9 May 2004, 12:24 PM

Updated: Tue 10 Sep 2024, 4:02 PM

  • By
  • (By a staff reporter)

The study, prepared by Martin Schonteich, a senior researcher at the Institute for Security Studies in Pretoria, South Africa, in charge of Security and AIDS Project, warns that if unchecked the disease is bound to have a negative impact on the security, socio-economic and political situation leading to chaos and instability.

Top Stories

He says that while wars are limited by time and circumstances and are often restricted to certain regions, but communicable diseases and epidemics have ravaged entire continents for longer periods of time, before they could be controlled and eradicated. He points out that communicable diseases have the power to destabilise state security and political stability and impair every aspect of human development.

The study underlines that HIV/AIDS has the potential of bringing about massive demographic and social changes.



Next Story