This project will examine the responses of south east Asian states to HIV/AIDS, with particular reference to Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia. In particular, given the distinct and very different political histories and social structures of these three countries, their different cultural orientations and differing epidemiologies, the research will examine the questions listed as influencing policy formulation and outcome developed at the LaTrobe workshop held in April 2007. Among the conclusions of that workshop was the view that good policymaking (and by inference, good policy outcomes) is determined not by the broad political characteristics of the state (democratic or authoritarian, stable or fragile), but rather by the specificities of the policymaking process, and in particular by the way in which key national and international policymakers have been engaged in the various stages and levels of the policymaking process. The study will primarily draw upon a review of existing literature and a number of in-depth interviews with key informants, in South East Asia but also in the region, notably with Professor D. Tarantola of the University of New South Wales.