During the twenty-year AIDS epidemic, almost twenty-two million people worldwide have died of the disease and an estimated 36 million are living with the HIV virus, which develops into AIDS. The first reported cases of HIV/AIDS in the early 1980s were followed, especially in the West, by rapid scientific advances in naming the disease, finding its cause, and learning about its modes of transmission. This burst of scientific discovery fostered an optimism that AIDS could be conquered. However, by the mid-1980s, the disease was recognized as an international epidemic. It spread explosively across the African continent and to many other parts of the world, including Asia and South America. It is estimated that 90 to 95 percent of AIDS infections occur in developing countries, primarily in sub-Saharan Africa where some of the world's worst living conditions exist. According to current estimates, 70 percent of those infected with AIDS live in...