CSIS Taskforce on HIV/AIDS

India's HIV/AIDS pandemic and U.S. Policy Options

The CSIS South Asia Program, directed by Ambassador Teresita Schaffer, seeks to increase understanding of the Indian HIV/AIDS epidemic in Washington and India policymaking circles and among government, business, think tank, NGO, and other opinion leaders. It actively seeks to include Congress in its activities, to build a cadre of both Members and staff who are well informed about, and interested, in the challenges of preventing India's AIDS epidemic from exploding.

The South Asia program has published the following reports on the HIV/AIDS pandemic in India:

- Engaging India: The U.S. Role in India's Fight against HIV/AIDS (June 2005)
- Strategy for the Second Wave: Learning from India's Experience with HIV/AIDS

(November 2004)
- India at the Crossroads: Confronting the HIV/AIDS Challenge (January 2004)

The CSIS Task Force on HIV/AIDS is funded by principally by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, with project support and input from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, and Merck and Co. It's honorary co-chairs are Former Senator Bill Frist (R-TN) and Sentor Russell Feingold (D-WI). The Task Force outlines strategic choices that lie ahead for the United States in fighting the global HIV/AIDS pandemic. The CSIS Task Force is comprised of a core group of experts drawn from Congress, the administration, public health groups, the corporate sector, activists, and others. This panel helps to shape the direction and scope of the Task Force and disseminate findings to a broader U.S. audience.

The Task Force seeks to build bipartisan consensus on critical U.S. policy initiatives and to emphasize to senior U.S. policymakers, opinion leaders, and the corporate sector the centrality of U.S. leadership in strengthening country-level capacities to enhance prevention, care, and treatment of HIV/AIDS. J. Stephen Morrison, director of the CSIS Africa Program, manages the overall project, in cooperation with the CSIS Freeman Chair in China Studies, the CSIS Russia/Eurasia Program and the CSIS South Asia Program.