The Far Eastern Economic Review in its July 15 issue included a special report on the region's HIV/AIDS epidemic. Summaries of some of the articles published in the issue appear below:

• "A Healthy Precedent": The Review examines the impact of a January 2004 out-of-court settlement of a lawsuit against drug maker Bristol-Myers Squibb, in which BMS agreed to return to Thailand the patent for the antiretroviral drug didanosine (Crispin, Far Eastern Economic Review, 7/15).
  


• "Asia's Wasted Lives": The region's governments say that the HIV/AIDS epidemic is "under control," but they "couldn't be more wrong," according to the Review. A "volatile mix" of current and emerging risks threatens to turn Asia's HIV/AIDS epidemic into a "full-blown pandemic" (Vatikiotis/Crispin, Far Eastern Economic Review, 7/15).
  


• "Back of the Class": The Review examines the stigma and discrimination faced by HIV-positive children in India, which poses a "serious threat" to curbing the spread of the disease (Slater, Far Eastern Economic Review, 7/15).
  


• "Cusp of a Crisis": The Review examines the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Indonesia, where injection drug users are engaging in high-risk behavior, including sharing needles and having sex with commercial sex workers, leaving the country "poised on the edge of an AIDS explosion" (McBeth, Far Eastern Economic Review, 7/15).
  


• "Dangerous Liaisons": The Review examines the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Thailand, which had "impressed the world" with its "highly successful" HIV prevention and education campaigns during the 1990s -- including its 100% Condom Use program for the commercial sex industry. However, the country now is facing complacency, reduced funding and a "muted" prevention message, the Review reports (Crispin, Far Eastern Economic Review, 7/15).
  


• "Front-Line Training": The Review profiles Chris Beyrer, associate research professor and director of the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health Fogarty AIDS International Training and Research Program, which trains Asian health officials and physicians in HIV/AIDS care (Vatikiotis, Far Eastern Economic Review, 7/15).
  


• "HIV-Positive in Henan": The Review profiles 33-year-old Zhao Zhen, an HIV-positive person living in China's Henan province. Zhen contracted HIV through a government-sponsored blood collection program, which paid farmers for their blood and sold it at state hospitals and private clinics (Murphy, Far Eastern Economic Review, 7/15).
  


• "India's Mission": The Review interviews Ashok Alexander, head of Avahan -- the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's Indian AIDS initiative (Slater, Far Eastern Economic Review, 7/15).
  


• "Red Alert": The Review examines China's HIV/AIDS epidemic and the country's efforts to combat the disease. The government for "years did not take the disease seriously" and now faces an "epic battle to avoid a full-scale crisis," according to the Review (Murphy, Far Eastern Economic Review, 7/15).
  


• "Sanctuary for Bangkok's AIDS Orphans": The Review profiles Father Joe Maier, who in the 1970s established the Human Development Foundation, which serves poor residents of the Klong Toey section of the city and now runs an AIDS hospice (Vatikiotis, Far Eastern Economic Review, 7/15).
  

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