Treatment of AIDS in conflict-affected settings: a failure of imagination

World AIDS Day last month focused on the impact of HIV on women and girls. The particular vulnerability of women to HIV during and after conflict is well-recognised. Yet conflict-affected communities have been excluded from international discourse around AIDS care and funding for treatment in resource-poor settings. Of more than 10 000 abstracts published for the 2004 International AIDS Conference in Bangkok, only one reported on treatment of AIDS in a conflict setting.