As the AIDS epidemic continued to infect and affect millions, the global response started to take a more comprehensive character. Governments and civil society groups started to realize and recognize HIV/ AIDS not only as a public health problem, but also a development problem, especially since it was becoming apparent that those bearing the brunt of the epidemic were also the impoverished and marginalized sections of the Third World. Addressing the HN/AIDS problem did not only entail convincing people to refrain from engaging in high-risk behaviors which increased their chances of acquiring the disease. More importantly, it required dealing with the conditions which made people vulnerable.