Moving Mountains

In dispatches written from around the world, Anne-christine d'Adesky reports on the greatest challenge facing us today: the global effort to provide life-saving medicines and care to 40 million people living with HIV and AIDS in resource-poor countries, the great majority in sub-Saharan Africa. She analyzes the obstacles to providing universal access to antiretroviral drugs whose cost has been out of reach to millions until now, and she exposes the underlying and often competing agendas of donor and recipient governments, funders, activists and individuals with HIV who are struggling to survive.

In lively, in-depth field reports from countries including Cuba, Brazil, Russia, Haiti, Mexico, Uganda, South Africa, China and India, she reveals how pilot and national treatment programs are serving as models. They provide a litmus test of the feasibility of HIV and AIDS treatment in settings of abject poverty, underdevelopment and economic and political instability. Looking ahead, Moving Mountains discusses the potential of AIDS treatment programs to bolster prevention efforts and help rebuild shattered nations and economies. It also warns of the consequences that could face individuals, nations and the world if we fail to achieve this monumental task.