While HIV/AIDS is most often thought of as a medical and scientific challenge, in reality it extends far beyond that - it is also a social challenge, a human rights challenge, a ethical challenge, an economic challenge and a political challenge. Strong political leadership is a necessary component of any effective response to the threat of HIV/AIDS.
One of the major reasons that the AIDS epidemic has reached the overwhelming global scale we face now is a consistent failure of political leadership to confront the epidemic until it was too late. Think about Ronald Reagan, who presided over the beginning of the epidemic....