NAFSA's Statement on AIDS and International Education Issues

ACHA/NAFSA Joint Committee on International Student Health Care

This statement was developed in January 1989 as a compilation of the general issues addressed in the ACHA General Statement on Institutional Response to AIDS and the ACHA special report, AIDS on the College Campus.

AIDS requires a global cooperative effort of research and education to prevent new infections of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and provide treatment for those infected with HIV. AIDS cases have already been reported in over 150 nations. Insufficient surveillance and health care provisions in many countries and political sensitivities in others have led to extensive underreporting of cases of AIDS and HIV infection. The World Health Organization estimates that between five and ten million people were infected in the late 1980s and that by the early 1990s, 50 to 100 million may be infected. By all estimates, AIDS and HIV infection will have a devastating social and economic impact, particularly on developing and underdeveloped nations.

AIDS challenges higher education, as it does humankind, to maintain a perspective of compassion in a time of great fear. It also calls for the initiation of appropriate action. HIV and its associated illnesses are not limited by geographic boundaries. The urgency and fear surrounding AIDS may lead to insularity among nations as they attempt to secure their borders against persons infected with HIV. Similarly, foreign study and the rich diversity of culture and learning brought to the United States by international students may suffer from fears and prejudices. We encourage institutions of higher learning to work toward solutions to the global problem of HIV infection and to promote international cooperation and understanding rather than protectionism and suspicion.

The global nature of AIDS and HIV infection raises critical issues for colleges and universities. With significant numbers of students from other countries studying in the United States and U.S. students studying abroad, institutions of higher education face the increasingly complex task of providing AIDS-related information and services to international students.

For the purposes of this statement, "international students" refers to both foreign students in the United States and U.S. students abroad.