On Monday, Vice President Al Gore opened the first UN Security Council of the new century with the announcement of US intentions to focus the council's agenda for the next week on the AIDS epidemic in Africa. Part of a larger focus on Africa in general for the month-long tenure of the US chairship, this announcement marks the first time the Security Council has taken up a major world health crisis. Usually, such an issue is handled by the World Health Organization with the Security Council restricting itself to matters of international relations and politics. Ambassador Richard Holbrooke justifies such a departure from tradition by pointing out that last year the AIDS epidemic killed ten times as many as armed conflict in Africa (2,000,000 deaths from AIDS vs. 200,000 deaths in combat). In several African nations, one in four individuals are infected. In addition, 10,000,000 children have been orphaned by the epidemic on a continent where social support systems are often inadequate; and in some cities, as many as 40 percent of all adults have HIV. The administration hopes that such a bold move will help bring renewed attention to the crisis and break down the taboo against acknowledging a disease that Peter Piot, the director of UNAIDS, believes has the "potential to destabilize the whole continent."