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HIV/AIDS as a Threat to Global Security
Keynote
Speeches
Mark Schneider: Senior
Vice-President, International Crisis Group
Stephen H. Lewis: United
Nations Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa
Panel 1
Friday, November 8th, 6.30pm
Causes
and Dimensions of HIV/AIDS: The
Global Security Threat Explained
Drawing
on arguments from various fields of study, this panel examined four
specific factors that make HIV/AIDS a threat to international security.
Panelists addressed how HIV/AIDS has affected national police and
armies as well as international peacekeeping forces, and the relationship
between these forces and the spread of the disease.
Panelists also examined how HIV/AIDS has caused a severe drain
on economic resources and crippled the workforce and economy in countries
with high rates of infection. They also discussed the collapse of
social and power structures from the basic family unit to national
institutions.
Finally, this panel explored the status of the pandemic among
refugee and migratory populations, and the way their movement has caused
the disease to transcend borders, destabilizing host states.
Chair:
Dean Michael Merson
Dr. Michael Merson is
the Director and Principal Investigator of the Center for
Interdisciplinary Research on AIDS (CIRA) and Director of the
Administrative and International Research Cores. Previously he worked
for 17 years with the World Health Organization (WHO) serving first as
Director of the Diarrheal Diseases Control and Acute Respiratory Control
Programs and subsequently as Executive Director of the WHO Global
Program on AIDS. Before joining WHO, he was engaged in research on the
etiology and epidemiology of diarrheal diseases in the United States and
abroad. More recently he has written on global AIDS policy issues, which
is his current major area of interest. He has authored more than 175
articles and is the senior editor of International Public Health, the
first textbook prepared on the subject. He has served on various NIH
review panels and advisory committees, has received the Surgeon
General's Exemplary Service Medal and the Arthur S. Flemming Award for
distinguished government service, and has been elected to the Institute
of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences. He is currently the
Principal Investigator of Yale's AIDS International Training and
Research Program (AITRP) in St. Petersburg, Russia, and its extension
activities in China, India and South Africa, as well as the
International Clinical, Operational and Health Services Research and
Training Award (ICOHRTA) Program in Pretoria, South Africa. He often
serves as a consultant to the World Bank for its HIV/AIDS projects in
various countries.
Panelists:
Dr. Manuel Carballo
Dr. Manuel Carballo is the Executive
Director of the International Center for Migration and Health in Geneva,
Switzerland and Professor of Clinical Public Health at the Mailman School
of Public Health at Columbia University. His work as an epidemiologist has
spanned a number of areas including maternal and child health, HIV/AIDS
and, most particularly, migrant health. He has worked in the Balkans,
South America, Africa and Asia. He was previously the WHO Public Health
Advisor for Bosnia and Herzegovina, where he was based in Sarajevo from
1993-1995. His work in the area of migration covers the health of refugees
and asylum seekers, economic migrants and other mobile and displaced
groups.
Dr. Christen Halle
Dr. Christen Halle is the Chief of the
Medical Unit at the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations. He
completed his medical studies at the University of Bergen, Norway. He
is a Specialist in Family Medicine and in Community Medicine. He was
Sector Medical Liaison Officer Sector NE with UNPROFOR in Bosnia. Dr.
Halle was Senior Medical Officer for the Norwegian Contingent at UN
hospital (UNPROFOR), UNIFIL, Lebanon, and KFOR, Kosovo. He was also the
Team leader, Basic Health for International Federation of the Red
Cross. He served as the Regimental Physician, Norwegian Regiment for
Peacekeeping until February 2000, and after this Chief, Medical Support
Unit and Senior Medical Adviser in the UN Department of Peacekeeping
Operations. He has been DPKO focal point for HIV/AIDS since 2001, as
well as DPKO focal point for women.
Mr. Keith Hansen
Mr. Keith Hansen is the Manager of the
AIDS Campaign Team for Africa at the World Bank. He is responsible for
the overall policy direction of the Region's HIV/AIDS work and for
overseeing the ongoing implementation of the regional HIV/AIDS strategy.
In particular, he leads ACTafrica's efforts to facilitate implementation
of the Multi-Country HIV/AIDS Program (MAP) for Africa. He is also the
focal point for managing the Region's relations on HIV/AIDS with other
Bank units, UNAIDS, and other partners. Prior to this, he was the Senior
Economist of ACTafrica and was one of the principal architects of the
MAP. Mr. Hansen joined the Bank as a long-term consultant in 1988 and
as a Young Professional in 1991 and has held a wide range of positions
in the c! ountry and sector operations groups.
Dr. Howard Zucker
Dr. Howard Zucker was appointed White
House Fellow in 2001, America's fellowship program for leadership
development and public service. He serves as Deputy Assistant Secretary
of Health at the Human Health Services Department. By profession Dr.
Zucker is an Associate Professor of Clinical Pediatrics & Clinical
Anesthesiology at Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeon.
He currently divides time among clinical duties in pediatric cardiology,
critical care, and anesthesiology, directs the pediatric transport
program, and performs research. His honors include: ABC World News
Tonight's "Person of the Week" in 1993 for initiating pediatric ICU
reunions to help children celebrate their recovery, selected "Teacher of
the Year" in 2000 by Columbia University staff, and voted by peers into
"The Best Doctors in America" since 1996. Dr. Zucker serves on the NYC
Bar Association's "Science and the Law" subcommittee and as a consultant
to the American Museum of Natural History's exhibit, "Genome: the Code
of Life." Founding member of Little Hearts Foundation, which raises
money to cure congenital heart disease, and the Terre Verte Foundation,
which focuses on organ donor awareness. Dr. Zucker also volunteers with
the Good Grief Program, helping healthcare workers cope with bereavement
issues, and mentors at-risk children through the Gorilla Press Project.
Dr. Zucker holds the following degrees: B.S., McGill University, 1979;
M.D., George Washington University School of Medicine, 1982; J.D.,
Fordham University Law School, 2000; L.L.M., Columbia Law School, 2001.
Panel 2
Saturday, November 9th, 11:00am
Regional Case
Studies: Evolution of the Security Threat in Different Regions of the
World
In contrast to the broad overview of the pandemic provided in the first
panel, this panel sought to provide a more critical and focused examination
of the issue through regional case studies. In these case studies, panelists from Africa, Asia, Latin America, Europe and North America discussed the effects of HIV/AIDS on individual countries within their
respective regions as well as the larger intra-regional concerns.
This panel contrasted the issues in each of these regions in
order to gain a more comprehensive and global perspective on the security
threat the AIDS pandemic poses.
Chair:
Dr. Ilona
Kickbusch
Dr. Ilona Kickbush is Professor and Head
of the Division of Global Health at the Department of Epidemiology and
Public Health, Yale University School of Medicine. Dr. Kickbusch is a
sociologist and political scientist with extensive experience in
international health work. Prior to coming to Yale she served in senior
positions in the World Health Organization supervising a wide range of
international health programs, particularly in the area of health
promotion including the initial effort to establish HIV/AIDS prevention
programs in Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. In
1993, she organized the first HIV/AIDS conference in the region. Dr.
Kickbusch has published particularly in the areas of health promotion,
public health policy and global health governance, as well as women's
health. She is the founder and chair of the editorial board of the
journal Health Promotion International and serves on the editorial
boards of several key journals in the field of international health. Her
present research interests lie in the areas of health literacy, health
and security and global health governance, all of which have great
relevance to the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
Panelists:
Dr. Chris Beyrer
Dr. Chris Beyrer is Professor of
Epidemiology at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the
School of Medicine. He leads the Fogarty AIDS International Training and
Research Program. Dr. Beyrer has worked extensively on HIV prevention
research and efforts to develop an HIV vaccine. He also serves as Senior
Scientific Liaison for the HIV Vaccine Trials Network. He has published
works on social and medical problems related to the spread of AIDS in
Asia. Dr. Beyrer is the author of War in the Blood: Sex, Politics, and
AIDS in Southeast Asia. He is the recipient of the 1999 Charlotte
Silverman Fund Award for Epidemiology and the 1988 Lowell E. Bellin
Award for Excellence in Preventive Medicine and Community Health.
Dr. Robert Heimer
Dr. Robert Heimer is an Associate
Professor, Division of Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases at the Yale
University School of Medicine. Dr. Heimer's major research efforts
include scientific evaluation of HIV prevention programs for drug
injectors, virological assessment of the risk of drug injection
behaviors, and analysis of the contributions of hepatitis virus
infections and injection drug use to chronic liver disease. His
laboratory has developed molecular and virological methods to test
syringes for the presence of HIV-1, hepatitis B and C viruses. Dr.
Heimer, in collaboration with Dr. Edward H. Kaplan at the Yale School of
Management, evaluated the New Haven Needle Exchange Program relying on
the tracking and testing of syringes. These analyses determined that the
New Haven exchange reduced the transmission of HIV-1 and hepatitis B by
at least one third. He has collaborated in the study of syringe exchange
programs in other American cities. Dr. Heimer's laboratory has
demonstrated how long HIV-1 remains viable within used syringes and
which drug injections practices can protect injectors from HIV-1
infection. Dr. Heimer is Director, Yale Emerging Infections Program;
Member, Center for Interdisciplinary Research on AIDS; Member, Substance
Use Working Group, HIV Prevention Trials Network, NIAID.
Major Rubaramira Ruranga
Major Rubaramira Ruranga is a veteran of
the war against the dictatorial regime of Idi Amin Dada. Since revealing
his HIV status at a rally on World AIDS Day in 1993, Major Ruranga has
campaigned tirelessly to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS in his native
Uganda and the rest of Africa. He is the founder and coordinator of the
National Guidance and Empowerment Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS
in Uganda—an organization which builds networks of support for those
living with HIV/AIDS and counsels those who face discrimination. Major
Ruranga is also a counselor to the Joint Clinical Research Center in
Uganda and has worked on projects aimed at using the military to stop
the spread of HIV infection. He has addressed numerous international
meetings, including the XIV International Aids Conference in Barcelona
where he spoke on a panel titled “HIV and the World’s Armed Forces.”
Dr. Fernando Zacarias
Dr. Fernando Zacarias is the Coordinator
and Principal Adviser of the Regional Program of AIDS/STI of the Pan
American Health Organization (PAHO), Regional Office of the World Health
Organization (WHO). He graduated as a surgeon from the National
Autonomous University of Mexico and conducted graduate studies at the
University of Miami (Family Medicine), Emory University (Internal
Medicine and Infectious Diseases) and Harvard University (master's
program and doctorate in Public Health). He was also a Visiting
Researcher at the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in
Atlanta, b! efore working at PAHO. Since 1978 he has been involved in
international work on prevention and control of Sexually Transmitted
Diseases in all the countries of the Americas, and starting in 1982, on
prevention and control of HIV/AIDS.
Panel 3
Saturday,
November 9th, 2:30pm
Solutions
and Policy Challenges: Problems and Answers for the Future
This
panel concluded the conference and looked at the complexities of the
problems still at hand while proposing possible ways to overcome them in
the future.
In order to practically address the breadth of the issue, the panel
was composed of a wide range of panelists from inter-governmental and
non-governmental organizations, academic institutions and think tanks,
national institutions, and groups working at the grassroots level. The
panel served to tie together the major themes of the conference and
both create and elaborate on possible solutions to the HIV/AIDS security
threat.
Chair:
Dr. Peter Salovey
Dr. Peter Salovey serves as the Chris
Argyris Professor of Psychology and Professor of Epidemiology and Public
Health, and Chairman of the Department of Psychology at Yale. Professor
Salovey is also the Director of the Department of Psychology's Health,
Emotion, and Behavior (HEB) Laboratory and Deputy Director of the Yale
Center for Interdisciplinary Research on AIDS (CIRA). The goal of much
of his recent health behavior research is to investigate the role of the
framing and psychological tailoring of messages in developing maximally
persuasive educational and public health communication interventions
promoting prevention and early detection behaviors relevant to cancer
and HIV/AIDS. Much of this research is carried out in housing
developments, community health clinics, and workplaces in the New Haven
community. Professor Salovey has published over 165 articles in the
scientific literature. Professor Salovey edits the Guilford Press series
on Emotions and Social Behavior. He competed a six-year term as
Associate Editor of Psychological Bulletin and was named the first
Editor of the Review of General Psychology; he serves as Associate
Editor of Emotion. Professor Salovey is a recipient of the National
Science Foundation's Presidential Young Investigator Award, and he has
served on the NSF Social Psychology Advisory Panel. His research has
been funded by the National Cancer Institute, the American Cancer
Society, the National Institute of Mental Health, the National Center
for Health Statistics, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and the Ethel F.
Donaghue Foundation.
Panelists:
Mr. George Fidas
Mr. George Fidas is the intelligence
officer-in-residence at George Washington University’s Elliot School of
International Affairs. He is the author of “The Global Infectious
Disease Threat and the Implications for the United States,” a report
that counts as one of the first attempts to analyze HIV/AIDS through the
lens of security. He served on tour in the State Department’s Bureau of
European and Canadian Affairs and on the faculty of the National Defense
University. Before joining the Elliot School, he was the deputy national
intelligence officer for Economics and Global Issues on the National
Intelligence Council. He has written extensively on issues of health,
the environment, and migration for U.S. Government publications. His
current work has focused on the issue of HIV/AIDS as a threat to
American national security.
Dr. Ulf Kristoffersson
Dr. Ulf Kristoffersson is the Humanitarian
Coordinator for UNAIDS. He has directed large operations in Asia and
Africa for both UNICEF and UNHCR. As the former head of the UNICEF’s
Emergency Operations and former deputy director for UNHCR’s Africa
Bureau, he has had substantial experience in United Nations fieldwork.
He has extensively analyzed the issue of HIV/AIDS as a threat to the
security through reports such as “HIV/AIDS As a Human Security Issue: A
Gender Perspective."
Dr. Paolo Roberto Teixeira
Dr. Paulo Roberto Teixeira is the Director
of the National STD/AIDS Program of Brazil’s Ministry of Health.
Trained as dermatologist, he specializes in public health and the
epidemiology of AIDS. He was one of the pioneers in the struggle
against the AIDS epidemic in Brazil. He created Brazil’s first State
AIDS Program in 1983, when there were only four known cases in Brazil.
He directed the State AIDS Program in Sao Paulo in 1987, 1991, and
1995. In 1992 and 1993 Dr. Teixeira was the deputy director of the
National AIDS Program. As such, he participated in the elaboration and
implementation of the AIDS I Project with the World Bank. He was a
Senior Consultant to the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS)
for Latin America and the Caribbean, helping to create a strategic plan
to fight the pandemic in the continent.
Dr. Alex de Waal
Dr. Alex de Waal is the Director for
Justice Africa, a London-based organization that supports human rights,
peace, and democracy in Africa. He currently directs programs at the
International African Institute and has worked for African Rights,
InterAfrica Group, and Human Rights Watch. He was also the chairman of
the Mines Advisory Group. He is the author of six books and many
articles including “Famine that Kills: Darfur, Sudan, 1984-1985”
(Clarendon Press, 1989), “Facing Genocide: The Nuba of Sudan” (African
Rights, 1995), and “Famine Crimes: Politics and the Disaster Relief
Industry in Africa” (James Currey, 1997). He has also written about the
impact of AIDS on societies and governments in Africa.
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