Gender issues are central to the causes and impact of the ongoing AIDS epidemic. Women living with HIV may face particularly difficult challenges with regard to childbearing. They may encounter barriers to adhering to recommendations from health providers not to breastfeed their infants if replacement feeding options are not affordable or easily accessible, or if the water supply is not safe. Violence and the threat of violence dramatically increase the vulnerability of women and girls to HIV by making it difficult or impossible for women to abstain from sex or to negotiate condom use. Gender inequality is both an underlying determinant and an outcome of the HIV epidemic. The different attributes, roles, and expectations for men and women in society profoundly affect their ability to protect themselves against HIV and seek or receive information, testing, or care. They also shape health outcomes, care-giving burdens, the response of communities and health providers, and other social or economic consequences of the disease. This informative book provides a comprehensive introduction to the themes and issues of gender, AIDS and global public health and informs students, policy makers and practitioners of the complexity of the gendered nature of AIDS.