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Synopsis This book is a collection of analytical frameworks, reports of research findings, and suggestions for further research agendas, that attempts to answer these questions. The chapters present an outline of the coming impact of the rapidly spreading HIV epidemic in India, and suggest some of the tools that will be needed to shape policy and programmes in the coming decade to respond to the epidemic and some of the issues that will need to be addressed. The book makes the point that while death rates among young adults are increasing (in some areas dramatically) as a result of HIV infection, few of these deaths are recorded or even recognized as related to HIV. The authors of the various chapters, mostly senior and authoritative figures on the local scene, then outline the situation in India, describing both the steps necessary to prevent the spread of HIV in the country, and some of the critical areas in which basic social welfare infrastructure will be threatened by the increased morbidity and mortality associated with the epidemic. This book also introduces an unconventional element: at the end of certain chapters a short discussion is recorded between the editor and a person living with HIV about that chapter. The intention is to anchor the conceptual and analytical work of the chapters in the real experience of those directly affected by the virus.