This Review Paper was prepared for an Expert Consultation organized by the World Health Organization that brought together experts from the field of HIV/AIDS, gender, health and development, as well as programme managers who implement HIV/AIDS programmes at the national level. This paper provided participants to the Expert Consultation with background information and a suggested framework for considering the issues and challenges of integrating gender into programmatic and policy action. It also offers some programmatic examples of successful HIV/AIDS interventions that have addressed gender in a meaningful and significant way.