A quarter of a century into the HIV pandemic, this multi-country comparative book demonstrates how the response to a common, global threat is shaped by the history, culture, institutions and health systems of individual nations.

Eduard Beck has recently taken up a post in the HIV Department of the World Health Organisation in Geneva.

Nicholas Mays has served as Director of Health Services Research at the King's Fund, the UK's leading independent health policy and management foundation. He has also acted as principal adviser in the Social Policy Branch of the New Zealand Treasury. Professor Mays is editor of the Journal of Health Services Research and Policy, published by the Royal Society of Medicine Press.

Alan W Whiteside is an elected Member of Governing Council of the International AIDS Society, a member of the Governing Council of Waterford Kamhlaba College, and one of the Commissioners of the UN Commission on HIV/AIDS and Governance in Africa. He has written the forthcoming OUP book HIV/AIDS: A Very Short Introduction.