ABSTRACT
The potential number of human lives—the creativity, compassion, and humanistic spirit that throughout history have prodded civilization forward—lost to acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) represents perhaps the greatest challenge to our future as we enter the 21st century. As communication technology webs humankind together as never before, we face an ever-growing pandemic reported in more than 152 countries worldwide, a pandemic with epicenters in the United States and Africa, with 204 and 150 cases per million respectively, which purportedly will cause more than 200,000 deaths in the United States alone. In an era celebrated by the promise of disappearing differences and a world opting for democracy, our shared nightmare is no longer nuclear destruction, but fear of a death more heinous than any humankind has witnessed since the advent of modern medicine. An age marked by international communication, negotiation, and cooperation must put such percepts to the test in a unified global effort to arrest the spread of the disease and to meet the ubiquitous challenges of the AIDS crisis.
