Table of Contents

The Response Before the Global Response.- The Launch of the Control Program on AIDS.- Creating a Global Response.- Assuming Global Leadership.- Building and Coordinating a Multi-Sectoral Response.- Health, Human Rights, and the GPA.- The Resignation of Jonathan Mann.- The Transition.-Enhancing program delivery.- Containing the global spread of HIV.- Supporting Research.- Addressing Stigma, Discrimination, and Human Rights.- Challenges and Criticisms.- The Challenges of coordination.- Rethinking Global AIDS Governance.– The end of GPA and the launch of UNAIDS.- The Development of UNAIDS.

Promotional Information

"In our ever more globally interconnected world, we will continue to be faced with global pandemics like HIV/AIDS. Learning from the lessons of our response to HIV/AIDS will help us be better prepared for the pandemics we face now and in the future. Drs. Merson and Inrig tell a compelling, personal, and in-depth story about these lessons that should give us all much to think about now and in the future." (Helene Gayle, CEO, McKinsey Social Initiative (Formerly President and CEO of CARE USA, and Director of the HIV,TB, and Reproductive Health Program at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation)) "Much has been written about global AIDS but little attention has been paid to the organization and effectiveness of global organizations in response to the pandemic. The AIDS Pandemic: The Search for a Global Response, clearly and colorfully describes the history and inner workings of the WHO response from the inside view of its longtime thoughtful and accomplished Director." (Jim Curran, Dean of Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University) "Merson and Inrig provide us with a rare and unique insider's view of the politics and science behind WHO's initial response to the massive and deadly rise of HIV/AIDS across the globe. ... Following in the footsteps of Jonathan Mann, the first Director of GPA, Mike Merson become the second Director, and his story in this book reveals the difficulties, successes and failures of the WHO led response. The story provides us with enumerable lessons that the world needs to heed in mounting global responses to the current and future pandemics." (Tom Quinn, Director of Johns Hopkins Center for Global Health) "Mike Merson had a front-row seat on the global response to AIDS during most of its crucial early years, from the day the charismatic Jonathan Mann was fired by World Health Organization Director General Hiroshi Nakajima to the folding of WHO's Global Programme on AIDS and the birth of UNAIDS under Peter Piot's leadership. Merson and Inrig's unique perspective and insights not only bring to life a fascinating period in our history, they offer many lessons for current and future international efforts to combat global pandemics and health inequity." (Stef Bertozzi, Dean of the University of California Berkeley School of Public Health) "To someone who lived through the transition from GPA to UNAIDS, this is a fascinating account of who did what, when and how. The complex web of personalities, politics and events - set against a raging epidemic - makes for a fascinating read. For anyone interested in the UN, global health or human rights, this book is a must." (Kathleen Cravero, President of Oak Foundation (Formerly Deputy Executive Director UNAIDS))

About the Author

Michael H. Merson, MD, is the founding director of the Duke Global Health Institute and the Wolfgang Joklik Professor of Global Health at Duke University. He joined the Duke faculty in November 2006. Dr. Merson served as Vice Chancellor for Duke-National University of Singapore (NUS) Affairs from 2010-2016. He was named the Vice President and Vice Provost for Global Affairs at Duke University in June 2011.

Dr. Merson graduated from Amherst College (BA) and the State University of New York, Downstate Medical Center. After serving as a medical intern and resident at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland, he worked in the Enteric Diseases Branch at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in Atlanta, GA, and then served as the Chief Epidemiologist at the Cholera Research Laboratory in Dhaka, Bangladesh. His research focused on the etiology and epidemiology of acute diarrheal diseases, including cholera, in developing countries and on the cause of travelers’ diarrhea in persons visiting these countries. 
In 1978, he joined the World Health Organization (WHO) as a Medical Officer in the Diarrheal Diseases Control Program. He served as Director of that Program from January 1980 until May 1990. In August 1987, he was also appointed Director of the WHO Acute Respiratory Infections Control Program. In May 1990, he was appointed as Director of the WHO Global Program on AIDS. This Program was operational worldwide and responsible for mobilizing and coordinating the global response to the HIV/AIDS pandemic. 
In April 1995, he joined Yale University School of Medicine as its first Dean of Public Health and as Professor and Chairman of the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, positions he held until December 2004. In 2001, he was named as the Anna M. R. Lauder Professor of Public Health in the Yale University School of Medicine. From 1999-2006, he also served as Director of the Center for Interdisciplinary Research on AIDS at Yale University, which undertakes research on HIV prevention in vulnerable and underserved populations in this country and abroad. He also led a number of training programs that strengthened the capacity of scientists in Russia, China, India and South Africa to undertake HIV/AIDS prevention research. 
Dr. Merson has authored more than 175 articles, primarily in the area of disease prevention. His most recent contributions concern HIV policy and prevention in developing countries and broader global health issues. He is the senior editor of Global Health: Disease, Programs, Systems, and Policies, which is a leading global health textbook in the United States. 
He has served in advisory capacities for UNAIDS, WHO, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria, World Bank, Doris Duke Foundation, World Economic Forum, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and on several NIH review panels and advisory committees. He is a member of the Commission for Smart Global Health Policy at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Dr. Merson has received two Commendation Medals from the U.S. Public Health Service, the Arthur S. Flemming Award for distinguished government service, the Surgeon General’s Exemplary Service Medal and two honorary degrees and is an elected member of the Institute of Medicine (IOM) in the National Academy of Sciences.
Stephen Inrig, PhD, MSCS, is an Associate Professor at Mount Saint Mary's University in Los Angeles, where he serves as director of the graduate program in Healthcare Policy and Management and director of interdisciplinary healthcare research. Professor Inrig teaches and conducts research on the social determinants of health and the influence of health policies on vulnerable populations in the United States and around the world. A professionally-trained health outcomes researcher and historian, Dr. Inrig's peer-reviewed research has explored the role of local, state, federal, and global policy on people at risk for HIV, cancer, and mental illness. He also helps lead or has been involved in running programs addressing Breast Cancer, prisoner reentry, cross-border health issues, and at-risk youth.  His present research includes improving cancer screening and treatment outcomes for low-income and uninsured patients, ensuring the continuity of care for former prisoners reentering society, enhancing mental health care for traumatized refugees and asylum-seekers in the United States, and strategies for improving drug discovery and distribution for diseases with high international burdens.  Dr. Inrig is the author North Carolina and the Problem of AIDS: Advocacy, Politics, & Race in the South (UNC Press), along with several peer reviewed articles and popular articles.  His work has appeared in the Huffington Post, the Baltimore Sun, the Philadelphia Inquirer,ABC-TV Dallas (WFAA), and National Public Radio, and CBS national radio.  Inrig received his PhD from Duke University in the History of Medicine (Health Policy); his MS in Clinical Sciences (Health Systems Research) from the University of Texas, Southwestern Medical School’s Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences; and his BA in History from the University of North Texas.