In a departure from its usual agenda, the UN Security Council has addressed a global health issue and unanimously adopted a resolution that underlines the importance of UN peacekeeping missions in combating AIDS and HIV.

The resolution marks the second time the 15-member body has discussed HIV and AIDS in the Council.  In 2000, it passed a resolution recognizing the potential that the AIDS epidemic posed to stability and security. 

On the eve of a high-level June conference by the UN General Assembly to chart a global AIDS response, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told the Security Council that in the past uniformed personnel were viewed in terms of the risk they might pose to civilians. “Now we understand that UN troops and police are part of prevention, treatment and care.”

He said that more than 1,500 peacekeepers have been trained as peer counselors while more than 14,000 blue helmets have sought voluntary counseling and testing for themselves in the past two years. According to UN figures, there are about 120,000 peacekeepers serving around the world, most of them in Africa.

The UN has urged all member states to link efforts to combat HIV and AIDS with campaigns against sexual violence and the rights of women. “This means addressing the dangerous interaction between AIDS, the international drug trade, sex trafficking and the abuse of women,” it said in a press release issued on June 7.

Peacekeepers are at risk of contracting HIV as are other armed services personnel around the world. But the UN believes that the risk of peacekeepers transmitting HIV to host populations is probably low.  In most cases, the armies of troop contributing countries are much less affected by AIDS than the countries where they are deployed, peacekeepers are limited in number, and codes of conducts are increasingly being reinforced. Allegations of sexual misconduct including of spreading HIV have however brought disrepute to some missions.