Initially the research on HIV/Aids attempted to ascertain whether this disease poses a security threat. By analyzing the impact HIV/Aids has on individual, national and international security, the argument is made that although this disease does not pose a security threat per se, it may be the case where it undermines the armed forces ability to deal with the social, political and economic consequences this disease poses. In this research, the concern is raised that the high infection rates among African militaries not only weakens their capacity to maintain civil order or defend national interests, but to provide qualified personnel for peacekeeping and other humanitarian aid missions.

Research in this field has since moved on to examine the impact this disease is having on the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) as regional military power. In the publication “Facing a Merciless Enemy” published in the journal Armed Forces and Society the various policy, human rights, human resources, health, and educational challenges this disease poses for the SANDF are assessed. Subsequent publications in African Security Review on this topic have focused more specifically on how this disease impacts on the operational capacity and capability of the SANDF by examining the potential impact at various levels, namely force procurement, force preparation, force deployment and force sustainment. Reference is made to the costs this disease poses in terms of recruitment, training and preparing operationally ready forces and of meeting the demands of expensive AIDS treatments.

The SANDF’s policy of excluding applicants who are HIV-positive from enlistment and from deployment on international missions have been challenged by trade unions and Aids activists. A recent court judgment has obliged the SANDF to review its policies in this regard. In this study conducted together with Michelle Nel from the Faculty of Military Science, published in the highly acclaimed Journal of Human Rights, the legal position in terms of HIV testing in the military are examined by referring to the current testing policies of the SANDF, as well as various other international court cases that have challenged the consequences of HIV-testing for military personnel. The research attempts to answer the question as to “whose rights are paramount – the human rights of individual soldiers, or the state’s obligation to ensure that the armed forces are operationally effective to safeguard the interests of society, or the international community”.

A future planned project intends examining more closely the impact this is disease is having on military recruitment. The SANDF is one of the few, if not only institution within South Africa which tests the youth for HIV on a regular basis as part of their pre-employment criteria. The information collected on the health assessment forms includes not only health status, but the age, race, gender and level of education of applicants. Should funding and permission be obtained to conduct this study, the intention is to process the data collected to determine prevalence trends among the youth. Monitoring how this disease is affecting our youth based on data collected by the SANDF during the testing process will be of immense value not only to the SANDF, but nationally as no other institution in the country has such longitudinal data on HIV-infection rates among the youth in the age cohort 17-22 years.

Lindy Heinecken/Department of Sociology and Social Anthropology/Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it