HIV/AIDS, more than any other health issue, is critical in setting back a country’s development because it attacks its people in their most productive years and places an undue strain on the economy. According to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Human Development Report 2004, AIDS explains why 20 countries have suffered development reversals since 1990 – and exactly half of these are Commonwealth countries (Bahamas, Belize, Botswana, Cameroon, Kenya, Lesotho, South Africa, Swaziland,Tanzania and Zambia). It was in this context that the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association convened a Study Group of experienced Commonwealth Parliamentarians in New Delhi, India.