xviii SUMMARY Social assistance and social security are often seen as luxuries available
only to rich countries; however, they can also be seen as necessities for poor countries. These are all issues relevant to a wider antipoverty and social protection agenda but require further analysis through an HIV/AIDS lens. Such analysis can be done in the course of action as part of the efforts currently under way to scale up cash transfer programs and political processes cur- rently under way to work for social protection as an integral part of the response to HIV and AIDS.