It requires the energy of grass-roots mobilization to be matched with effective leadership from every level. These components underpin the effective responses to the HIV epidemic that are highlighted in this report, from Senegal, Thailand, and Uganda. HIV infection has a complex relation to poverty. HIV hits both rich and poor.
Poverty is now one of the main drivers of the global epidemic.
The majority of people with HIV are in the developing world. Not only are economic inequalities reflected in the epidemic, they are made worse as energy is sapped from sectors that would otherwise be able to help economic progress. The opportunity for action has never been greater, nor its need more urgent.