The authors declare that they have no competing interests. Various components of the technical system architecture (the epizootic module was added to the pre-existing MAGS components) Figure 13 Various components of the technical system architecture (the epizootic module was added to the preexisting MAGS components). Alternative medicines for AIDS in resource-poor settings: Insights from exploratory anthropological studies in Asia and Africa The emergence of alternative medicines for AIDS in Asia and Africa was discussed at a satellite symposium and the parallel session on alternative and traditional treatments of the AIDSImpact meeting, held in Marseille, in July 2007. These medicines are heterogeneous, both in their presentation and in their geographic and cultural origin. The sessions focused on the role of these medications in selected resource poor settings in Africa and Asia now that access to anti-retroviral therapy is increasing. The aims of the sessions were to (1) identify the actors involved in the diffusion of these alternative medicines for HIV/AIDS, (2) explore uses and forms, and the way these medicines are given legitimacy, (3) reflect on underlying processes of globalisation and cultural differentiation, and (4) define priority questions for future research in this area. This article presents the insights generated at the meeting, illustrated with some findings from the case studies (Uganda, Senegal, Benin, Burkina Faso, China and Indonesia) that were presented. These case studies reveal the wide range of actors who are involved in the marketing and supply of alternative medicines. Regulatory mechanisms are weak. The efficacy claims of alternative medicines often reinforce a biomedical paradigm for HIV/AIDS, and fit with a healthy living ideology promoted by AIDS care programs and support groups. The AIDSImpact session concluded that more interdisciplinary research is needed on the experience of people living with HIV/AIDS with these alternative medicines, and on the ways in which these products interact (or not) with anti-retroviral therapy at pharmacological as well as psychosocial levels. A large number of new treatments offered to people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWA) have appeared over the last fifteen years in the therapeutic domain of AIDS. These med-icines are particularly heterogeneous, both in their presentation and in their geographic and cultural origin. They constitute a group of products with a therapeutic aim that occupies a space between the customary traditional, popular and biomedical sectors of health care [1] . These products often mix reference to biomedicine and science with notions of traditional health culture and nature in a syncretic way. They consist mainly of herbs and nutritional substances and are packaged as 'modern' pharmaceuticals: capsules, tablets, and solutions. The names of these alternative treatments reflect their reference to biomedicine: Immunocomplex, Viralgic, Virjint, etc. Their accompanying leaflets provide detailed information on substance, as well as dosage, indications, and biomedical efficacy claims. Their diffusion follows contemporary paths in the global economy and makes use of new information technologies. In this paper, we will use the term "alternative" to consider a generic category including medicines that recently appeared for AIDS which have not been authorised by drug regulatory authorities, nor recommended by WHO. Other terms, such as neo-traditional or neo-phytotherapeutic, may be discussed for the characterization of some of these treatments, related to their local meanings or their social status.