AIDS in the UK: The Making of Policy, 1981-1994 Review

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(More customer reviews)Berridge's 'AIDS in the UK' is a thorough chronicle of political responses to the AIDS epidemic in the UK. She categorises AIDS policy-making in Britain into four periods: the first, a period of inaction and low-level funding; the second, a phase of 'war-like' mobilisation that began at the end of 1986 and was characterised by extensive funding for AIDS education; the third, a 'normalisation' stage in which HIV/AIDS became positioned as a chronic illness and lost the media's attention; and finally the current period of uncertainty in which Britain's pragmatic and consensual approach to AIDS is threatened by conservative forces. (Australian readers might be pleased to know that their politicians responded in a similar manner, although they were roused into action almost two years earlier than their British counterparts.)
Berridge also claims that AIDS policy-making in Britain was guided by an existing social policy agenda, and thus cannot be characterised as particularly exceptional. For example, she notes that 'harm minimisation' strategies aimed at combating health problems associated with drug use were already accepted in principle by government and were awaiting implementation. Politicians and health authorities were finding it difficult to sell these ideas to the public, however, until the threat of AIDS provided them with a mandate to turn innovative policy into practice.
In comparison to Simon Garfield's account of AIDS in the UK, Berridge diminishes the significance of the role played by activists and affected communities in shaping the nature of AIDS policy and the epidemic in Britain. Despite occasionally peeking from the meeting rooms of advisory committees, her focus remains on politicians and bureaucrats. This is, in my opinion, the book's most significant flaw. It remains, however, a thoroughly researched and important account of the AIDS epidemic.

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