A quarter of a century into the HIV pandemic, this multi-country comparative book aims to demonstrate how the response to a common, global threat is shaped by the history, culture, institutions and health systems of individual nations. This book is timely for framing the first 26 years of the epidemic from a perspetive that encompasses policy and the delivery of medical care...The in-depth, well-organised country reports provide a baseline that will serve particularly well for those interested in international policy issues in public health...this book is important, and perhaps the best of its kind.