US Seeks Anti-AIDS Measures for Peacekeeping Missions 
Inter Press Service - July 6, 2000 
Thalif Deen 

UNITED NATIONS, Jul 6 (IPS) - The United Nations, fearing the spread of AIDS among peacekeepers, has purchased over 1.5 million condoms for distribution to UN troops in Sierra Leone and East Timor. 
The contraceptives, which are intended as protective measures against the deadly disease, are to be distributed on the basis of one condom per peacekeeper per day. 
Of the 1.5 million condoms, about one million have been earmarked for UN troops in Sierra Leone and the remaining 500,000 for peacekeepers in East Timor. 
The UN Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) has a total military strength of about 13,000 soldiers while the UN Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) consists of about 9,150 military personnel and 1,640 civilian police officers. 
Currently, the United Nations has a total of 14 peacekeeping operations based in several trouble spots, including Lebanon, Cyprus, Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). 
The United States is sponsoring a resolution in the UN Security Council calling upon the UN's Department of Peacekeeping Operations to engage in mission-specific, pre-deployment and on-going training of all peacekeepers on issues related to the prevention of the spread of HIV/AIDS. 
US Ambassador Richard Holbrooke told reporters that the United States would never again vote for a peacekeeping resolution that did not recognise the fact that peacekeeping troops are both at risk of contracting HIV/AIDS, and of spreading it. 
The United States, he said, plans to introduce the first ever Security Council draft resolution on a health issue (AIDS) in direct relationship to UN peacekeeping efforts. The resolution is expected to go before the Council sometime next week. 
UN peacekeepers, unfortunately, help spread the disease while trying to contain conflict. That was an unacceptable situation, Holbrooke added. 
UN Spokesman Farhan Haq told IPS that the United Nations does not have any precise figures as to how many peacekeepers have contracted the disease. We don't screen peacekeepers for AIDS, he said, adding that the countries that provide troops are expected to ensure the health of their soldiers. But there have been reports that some of the troop contributing countries are not willing to go public with any known AIDS cases. 
The draft resolution, however, urges member states to acknowledge the problem of HIV/AIDS directly, in particular in uniformed national military forces. Additionally, it is urging countries to develop, in consultation with the international community and the UN AIDS agency UNAIDS, effective long-term domestic national strategies to educate civilian and military personnel on the prevention of the spread of HIV/AIDS. 
Further, it calls upon member states to institute voluntary and confidential counselling and testing for HIV/AIDS for members of uniformed national military forces, especially for troops to be deployed to international peacekeeping missions, because of the proven effects of testing to reduce high- risk behaviours. 
The resolution also seeks to increase international co-operation between national military organisations to assist in the creation and execution of HIV/AIDS prevention, testing and treatment policies within the militaries. The US will not let go of the AIDS issue, Holbrooke said, pointing out that US Vice President Al Gore addressed the Security Council on the same issue in January this year. 
That was the first time in history that a health issue was discussed in the Security Council, he noted. Holbrooke also said that he was not making the argument that enough resources had been deployed to fight the disease. He understood that the resources needed went far beyond the structure of even the world's richest country. But the US must show leadership. 
Given its complexity, Holbrooke said, many considered AIDS to be the single most dangerous problem facing the world today, not just in Africa, but throughout the world. 
Currently, about 34.3 million people are now living with HIV/AIDS worldwide. The number of new infections is estimated at about 15,000 a day - and rising. The overwhelming majority of people with HIV - some 95 percent of the global total - live in the developing world. 
According to UNAIDS, that proportion is set to grow even further as infection rates continue to rise in countries where poverty, poor health systems and limited resources for prevention and care fuel the spread of the virus. Last year there were about 2.6 million deaths from HIV/AIDS, a higher global total than in any year since the beginning of the epidemic less than a decade ago. (END/IPS/HE/IP/DV/td/da/00) 
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