National Societies in South Asia had since the mid-nineties been active in limited, mainly HIV-awareness raising, campaigns largely with bilateral support. With the five year funding, from Sida through the Swedish Red Cross for the period 2005-2009, it became possible to scale up the response to this emerging epidemic. At that time HIV in Asia was high on the international agenda threatening to copy the pattern of the spread from Africa. A mapping of the major regional health programmes formed the background for the proposal, together with the Federation's policy expressed in the Global Programme 2002-2005. The focus should be on: fighting stigma and discrimination; prevention; treatment, care and support, in all aspects with a participatory approach and involvement of PLHIV.