Ghosts of Kigali: Infectious Disease and Global Stability at the Turn of the Century

Abstract

As the spectre of the Cold War recedes into the past, international relations and national security analysts have begun to embrace concepts of human security and preventive defence, arguing that factors such as environmental degradation, resource scarcity and overpopulation represent significant threats to global security. But another threat looms large on the horizon, namely the proliferation of emerging and re-emerging infections on a global scale. Indeed, the HIV pandemic is entrenched in sub-Saharan Africa,² and is accelerating through Eastern Europe, South Asia and East Asia. Other widening pandemics include old scourges such as tuberculosis, malaria, cholera and dengue. New threats have also emerged in the form of Hanta, Ebola, Legionella, and such antibiotic resistant organisms as vancomycin-resistant enterococci and methycillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.

Beyond the enormous suffering of individuals and families, South Africans are beginning to understand the cost (of HIV/AIDS) in every sphere of society, observing with growing dismay its impact on the efforts of our new democracy to achieve the goals of reconstruction and development.

Nelson Mandela, 1997¹