AIDS in the UK

Abstract
Fifteen years ago the AIDS ‘epidemic’ did not exist on the public agenda. In just over a decade the public and official response to the disease has resulted in the development of a whole network of organizations devoted to the study, containment, and practical treatment of AIDS. In this analysis of AIDS policy, the book examines the speed and nature of the official (and unofficial) response to this new and critical historical event. The policy reaction in Britain passed through three stages. From 1981–6 the outbreak of a new contagious disease led to public alarm and social stigmatization, with a lack of scientific certainty about the nature of the disorder. This phase was succeeded in 1986–7 by a brief stage of quasi-wartime emergency, in which national politicians and senior civil servants intervened, and a high-level political response emerged. That response was a liberal one of ‘safe sex’ and harm minimization rather than draconian notification or isolation of carriers. The book demonstrates that despite the ‘Thatcher revolution’ in government in the 1980s, crisis could still stimulate a consensual response. The current period of ‘normalization’ of the disease sees panic levels subsiding as the rate of growth slows and the fear of the unknown recedes. Official institutions have been established and formal procedures adopted and reviewed; paid professionals have replaced the earlier volunteers. The 1990s have seen change in the liberal consensus towards a harsher response and the partial repoliticization of AIDS.

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