In 2006, AI initiated a process to pilot a method for the rating. AI commissioned a series of background papers reviewing existing indicators and methodologies used in other ratings. A suggested scenario was presented in August 2006 at the International AIDS Conference in Toronto. A diverse group of advisers were consulted to help identify the first Country Rating Development Team.

In 2007 the Development Team presented a Country Rating pilot study. This model focused on rating countries with an HIV prevalence of more than 0. 2 % on three different aspects of service delivery in relation to a set of context variables. We called it the “Relative Response Model”.

In January 2008, an independent reviewer and members of the AI’s Country Rating Advisory Group (CRAG) – a global panel of close to one hundred representatives of civil society, bilateral and multilateral agencies, academia, government and the private sector (see Annex) – were invited to give feedback on the Relative Response Model. Most CRAG members believed the country rating to be a potentially powerful advocacy tool at both local and national levels that would spark debate and dialogue.

AI’s consultative approach to developing the tool was also appreciated and considered a good way of creating buy-in for the rating. However, CRAG members had two general criticisms of the Relative Response Model: 1) With a focus on developing countries, the rating was not inclusive enough in terms of countries included in the analysis, and; 2) the model was not sufficiently comprehensive in that it covered only three aspects of the very complex reality that is the response to AIDS. In response to this critique, AI decided to adopt a more comprehensive scorecard approach that would include virtually all countries and that would cover a more comprehensive range of elements of the response to AIDS.

Tony Barnett, Professor, London School Of Economics, UK - Alvaro Bermejo, Executive Director, International HIV/AIDS Alliance, UK - Nils Daulaire, President and CEO of The Global Health Council, USA - Paul De Lay, Director, Epidemic Monitoring and Prevention Department, UNAIDS, Geneva - Bo Ekman, Chairman, Tällberg Foundation, Sweden - Minou Fuglesang, PhD, Director Femina-HIP, Tanzania - Ophelia Haanyama-Orum, Senior Advisor, Global Partnership on HIV and AIDS, Sweden - Anders Milton, Former Chairman, Council Of The World Medical Association, Sweden - Christopher Murray, Professor, Institute Director, Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, University of Washington, USA - Hans Rosling, Professor, Karolinska Institute and Founder of Gapminder, Sweden - Mary Ann Torres, Senior Policy Advisor , ICASO, Canada - Thomas Tufte, Professor in Communication, Roskilde University, Denmark - Stefano Vella, Research Director, Department Of Drug Research And Evaluation, Istituto Superiore di Sanitá, Italy - Senator Mechai Viravaidya, UNAIDS Special Representative, Chairman, Population & Community Development Association, Thailand - Anders Wijkman, Swedish Member of The European Parliament and the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety, Brussels - Anne Winter, Advocacy and Communications Consultant, Geneva - Paul Zeitz, Executive Director, Global AIDS Alliance, USA.

To date, AI has created the Country Rating Advisory Group (CRAG) to review the country rating. Specific advisory groups will also be formed for other ratings, such as the donor and private sector rating. The recruitment of members to the different advisory groups is an ongoing activity.

The members of the CRAG were: - Zackie Achmat Activist, Founder of Treatment Action Campaign, South Africa - Munir Ahmed, Team Leader-UNICEF-HAPP HIV Program, Bangladesh - Dennis Altman, Professor, La Trobe University, Australia - Joe Amon, Director HIV/AIDS Program, Human Rights Watch, USA - Vardan Babayan, Programme Director Armenian National AIDS Foundation, Armenia - Syed Mohammad Baqar, Consultant in community work, workplace responses, training of PLWA, India - Alvaro Bermejo, Executive Director AIDS Alliance, UK - Karoline Beronius, Adviser, The Swedish Program for Information and Communication Technology in Developing  Regions, Sweden - Mabel Bianco, President and Coordinator, Fundacion para Estudio e Investigacion de la Mujer, Argentina - Pedro Cahn, Director, Fundación HUESPED, Assistant Professor of Infectious Diseases at the Buenos Aires, Argentina - Edgar Carrasco, Regional Secretary of the Latin American and the Caribbean Council of AIDS Service Organizations (LACCASO), Venezuela - Dani Ceuninck, Attaché AIDS, Federal Public Service Foreign Affairs, Belgium - Nada Chaya, Metrics Manager, Research & Metrics Population Services Int., USA - Susan Chong, APCASO, the Coalition of Asia Pacific Regional Network on HIV/AIDS (the Seven Sisters), Malaysia - Nick Corby, ActionAid's HIV /AIDS policy officer, UK - Naina Dhingra, Director, Advocates For Youth, Washington, USA - Evelyne Sylvia Ehua, Directeur de la Coordination et des Appuis Techniques au Ministère chargeè de la Lutte contre le SIDA, Cote d'Ivoire - Mziwethu Faku, District Organizer, Treatment Action Campaign, South Africa - Claudio Fernandes, AIDS activist, designer and filmmaker, GESTOS, Brazil - Susan Fox, Project Manager, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, Geneva - Lynde Francis, Founder and Director of The Centre, Harare, Zimbabwe - Mariangela Galvao Simao, Co-Director, National AIDS Program, Brazil - Gregg Gonsalvez, AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP) AIDS and Regional Coordinator, Rights Alliance for Southern Africa, South Africa - Reverend Christo Greyling , Global Adviser on HIV &AIDS and Church/FBO Partnerships HIV/AIDS, World Vision International, South Africa - Jill Hanass-Hancock , Post-Doc fellowship at HEARD, University of Kwa-ZuluNatal, South Africa - Lee-Nah Hsu, Strategic planning, policy advocacy, programme management, monitoring and evaluation, transdisciplinary research and training, USA - Mark Ishaug, Board Member, Funders Concerned About AIDS, USA - Bobby John, Principal Partner & President, Global Health Advocates, India - Inoussa Kabore, Acting Director of Evaluation, Surveillance and Research, Family Health International, US/Burkina Faso - Mohga Kamal Yanni, Health Policy Adviser, Oxfam, UK - Andreas Kyriacou, Associate Professor Department of Economy University of Girona, Spain - Innocent Laison, Senior Program Manager of the African Council of AIDS organizations, Senegal - Chewe Luo, Senior Programme Adviser , HIV and Health, Health Section, Program Division, UNICEF, Zambia - Ron MacInnis, Director of Policy and Programmes, International AIDS Society, Geneva - Elizabeth N. Mataka, Global Fund Board: Developing Countries Delegation, Zambia - Elaine McKay, Independent Consultant, South Africa - Sam McPherson, Associate Director of Planning, Analysis & Learning, International HIV/AIDS Alliance, UK - Brad Mears, CEO South African Business Coalition On HIV/AIDS, South Africa - Sisonke Msimang-White, Open Society Initiative Southern Africa, South Africa - Teymur Noori, Scientific Officer, European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, Sweden - Rafael Ohanyan, Head of Prevention Department of National Center for AIDS Prevention, Armenia - Alena Peryshkina, Director, AIDS Infoshare, Russia - John Rock, National Portfolio Convener NAPWA and member of APN+, Australia - Thomas Scalway, Consultant in Communication and Mobilisation for HIV/AIDS, South Africa - Lakshmi Sundaram, Associate Director, Global Health Initiative, World Economic Forum, Geneva - John Tomaro, Director, Health Programme, Aga Khan Development Network, Geneva - Göran Tomson, Professor of International Health System Research, Karolinska Institute, Sweden - Stefaan Van der Borght, Director Health Affairs, Heineken, The Netherlands - Regina Wenzel, Project Manager, Global Health Initiative, World Economic Forum, Geneva.