Experts warn of AIDS threat to security

Delegates at a two-day overview of the world's AIDS crisis in the UK have heard that the pandemic is threatening security in hard hit southern African countries and creating potential "havens for terrorists".

According to Agence France-Presse, Joep Lange, a professor at the University of Amsterdam, said people living with AIDS in South Africa, Botswana and Swaziland, in particular, were more vulnerable to crime and prostitution.

Lange pointed out that although the link between HIV/AIDS and security began to be aired in 2000, data to back up the theory remained sketchy and the evidence was mostly demographic.

South Africa has rejected these claims, saying it has always considered the role of poverty in the AIDS pandemic.