ABSTRACT
Introduction Now in the third decade of our experience with this pandemic, to many of us, acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) seems to have always been here, always stalking us, always part of our lives, always the principal focus of our personal and professional activities. Nurses and other healthcare professionals working in this field today are involved in a rapidly accelerating spiral of dynamic developments: evolving science, new drugs, new prevention strategies, ever-moving political agendas, changing vulnerabilities and the restructuring of models for the provision of care. In our lifetimes, AIDS is perhaps the ultimate epidemic, reshaping our world beyond recognition, bringing out both the best and the worst in humankind. To be actively involved in this great event and to be positioned to influence outcomes, nurses need to continue to develop their insights into the entire spectrum of this epidemic . . . and that insight begins with an understanding of the changing shape of the global pandemic and the diverse human circumstances, behaviours and vulnerabilities that drive national epidemics around the world.
