One fifth of the world's population today is Muslim, and this vast expanse of humanity may represent the next major "risk region" for contagion of the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Indeed, in the years immediately ahead, the AIDS pandemic is all but sure to exact a grim toll in a number of vulnerable populations with volatile polities--places unlikely to cope with the significant social stresses and economic burdens of AIDS.

From Bosnia-Herzegovina and Albania in Central and Eastern Europe to Malaysia and Indonesia in the East, HIV/AIDS already appears to be making significant inroads into vulnerable Islamic populations. In many Muslim countries the spread of the epidemic has gone unrecognized and untreated. On the other hand, some Islamic states are now beginning to take some decisive steps in the struggle against AIDS--but will the requirements of successful mass HIV-prevention campaigns be consonant with what local populations regard as "Islamic values"?

Join Laura M. Kelley and Nicholas Eberstadt for a discussion of their recent study on HIV/AIDS in the Muslim World: prevalence, prospects, and potential implications. Michael Rubin of AEI will comment on their findings.