The book is a collection of ten essays on legal responses to HIV/AIDS, written by scholars from five continents (Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe and America). Each essay deals with HIV/AIDS-related problems in the author's country. An effort was made to select highly-diversified countries belonging to different families of law, the countries varying in their political, ethnic, and religious backgrounds. The contributors were encouraged to explore the links between HIV/AIDS-related problems and other social issues. They were also encouraged to reflect upon the limits and effectiveness of legal measures in reducing the growth of the epidemic. Finally, the goal of the project was to find whether it is possible to achieve a proper balance between the need to protect societies from the scourge of AIDS and the need to protect the rights of those afflicted by the disease.