United Nations -- The Security Council took another important step in combating the spread of AIDS July 17 by adopting a U.S.-sponsored resolution addressing the potential damaging impact of HIV/AIDS in war zones where U.N. peacekeepers are stationed.

As more and more U.N. peacekeepers are deployed in conflict areas, some of which are seriously affected by the AIDS virus, diplomats and international health officials say there is a need to protect the soldiers from being infected by the deadly virus -- and to ensure that they do not spread the disease themselves.

The benchmark resolution was unanimously adopted. It follows the precedent-setting meeting on AIDS the council held in January, the first in its more than 50-year history to discuss health as a security threat.

According to U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations Richard Holbrooke, the resolution, the first ever focused on any health issue, demonstrates the collective will of the Security Council in confronting the pandemic and doing its part to help strengthen the work of other U.N. agencies.

"Today, July 17, will be marked as a benchmark in the evolution of the Security Council and it will be a vote that will illustrate our recognition that AIDS is as great a security challenge as we have faced since the founding of the United Nations," Holbrooke said.

AIDS is not the problem of a single country, of Africa, or of a continent, the ambassador said. "In a world defined by globalization and interdependence ... we can't simply focus on economic interdependence. We have to recognize that while interdependence gives economic opportunities, it also can pose global threats."

"You cannot deny AIDS a visa; you cannot embargo it or quarantine it; you cannot stop it at a border. That's why we must work together," Holbrooke said.

"We must avoid the supreme irony which would occur if in the course of trying to prevent conflicts U.N. peacekeepers spread a disease even more deadly than the conflicts themselves," he said.

The resolution focuses on peacekeeping, an area where the Security Council has primary responsibility. It instructs the secretary-general to take steps to provide training on issues related to preventing the spread of HIV/AIDS for peacekeeping personnel, and to develop pre-deployment orientation and ongoing training for all peacekeeping personnel. It also asks the secretary-general to develop the means to track national policies in military forces around the world.

It recognizes the efforts of nations that have acknowledged the HIV/AIDS problem and have developed national programs, and encourages all nations which have not done so to consider developing effective long-term strategies for HIV/AIDS education, prevention, voluntary and confidential testing, and counseling, and treatment of their personnel as an important part of their preparation for participation in peacekeeping operations.

Holbrooke said that "while peacekeepers of the U.N. perform very admirably and all who contribute to peacekeeping deserve our respect and admiration, it is a fact that without proper training, education, and steps toward prevention, peacekeepers may also be spreading AIDS inadvertently."

He said that once troops become part of a U.N. peacekeeping mission, "the U.N. should have an obligation to provide them with education and training, provide condoms as [the Department of Peacekeeping Operations] has now started to do, and to take other actions to prevent the spread of the disease."

In the United States, he recalled, every soldier sent abroad is tested for AIDS and if the test is positive the soldier must stay home to be treated. In addition, the U.S. Congress is considering providing funds to the U.S. Defense Department to work with other governments and the U.N. on AIDS.

"This is not to denigrate peacekeepers as agents of the virus. But the Council must always recognize that peacekeepers do not operate in isolation from the local community," said Ambassador Jeremy Greenstock of the United Kingdom.

"Many countries that are heavily affected by the pandemic, including my own country, Namibia, have acknowledged the severity of HIV/AIDS and its impact on our populations," Ambassador Martin Andjaba told the council.

The resolution, Andjaba said, hopefully will contribute "to the ongoing efforts aimed at addressing the pandemic. Indeed, there are many players in this field and in our view. Concerted efforts by all concerned should lead to the eradication of this dreadful evil."

But he stressed that it is "essential that populations in developing countries have access to effective AIDS drugs that will help prolong their lives."

"There is a stigma associated with open discussion of HIV/AIDS in many of our societies," said Ambassador Anwarul Karim Chowdhury of Bangladesh.

"The HIV/AIDS pandemic is now increasingly recognized as being more than a public health problem," said Chowdhury. "It has the potency to cause violence and social destabilization through the enormous toll it can take on the active members of a society."

Peter Piot, executive director of UNAIDS, addressed the council for the second time this year. Piot noted that he was returning from the 13th International HIV/AIDS conference in Durban, "where over 10,000 people from all over the world gathered to what they called 'break the silence' -- break the silence around AIDS."

The international community, particularly the United Nations, must take advantage of this moment and continue to make AIDS a major issue in global politics, said Piot. "It is a matter of getting our priorities straight, and of doing what we know would make a difference."

Piot also reported that the AIDS pandemic is continuing to expand, especially in Africa, where 16 countries have a greater than one in 10 rate of HIV infection for their adult populations, ages 15 to 49. The socio-economic effects of such an epidemic constitute a vital issue that Piot hopes the Security Council will take on, he said.

One of the most comprehensive initiatives is a country response monitoring project which will be launched in July, Pilot said. This project, an international collaboration with relevant government departments, UNAIDS, USAID, and others, will use the World Wide Web to disseminate up-to-date summary information on the AIDS epidemic. It will include updates on financial and programmatic actions of its supporting partners in various countries.

"There are many successful counseling and testing services in may parts of the world," said Piot. "We agree with the drafters of this resolution that voluntary and confidential HIV testing, accompanied by counsel, has a vital role to play in HIV prevention. This was presented in several studies at the Durban conference," he said.

Ways to combat the disease include "training before and during deployment, as well as the development of a U.N. medical policy on HIV/AIDS for personnel associated with U.N. missions, including issuing adequate supplies of condoms," said Piot.

"Many governments are willing to ensure that the voluntary testing suggested in this resolution ... not only respects the human rights of individuals, but also achieves the goal towards which it is directed," he said. "Governments should make such programs available within the uniformed services, as they should in the civilian community ... to protect both the peacekeeping troops and the communities in which they operate."