In 2008 it was believed that HIVAIDS was without doubt the worst epidemic to hit humankind since the Black Death The first case was identified in 1981; by 2004 it was estimated that about 40 million people were living with the disease & about 20 million had died Yet the outlook today is a little brighter Although HIV AIDS continues to be a pressing public health issue the epidemic has stabilised globally & it has become evident it is not nor will it be a global issue The worst affected regions are southern & eastern Africa Elsewhere HIV is found in specific usually marginalised populations for example intravenous drug users in Russia Although there still remains no cure for HIV there have been unprecedented breakthroughs in understanding the disease & developing drugs Access to treatment over the last ten years has turned AIDS into a chronic disease although it is still a challenge to make antiviral treatment available to all that require it We also have new evidence that treatment greatly reduces infectivity & this has led to the movement of ' Treatment as Prevention' In this Very Short Introduction Alan Whiteside provides an introduction to AIDS tackling the science the international & local politics the demographics & the devastating consequences of the disease He looks at the problems a developing international 'AIDS fatigue' poses to funding for sufferers but also shows how domestic resources are increasingly being mobilised despite the stabilisation of international funding Finally Whiteside considers how the need to understand & change our behaviour has caused us to reassess what it means to be human & how we should operate in the globalizing world ABOUT THE SERIES The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly Our expert authors combine facts analysis perspective new ideas & enthusiasm to make interesting & challenging topics highly readable