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Learning from AIDS : Applying policy lessons from the UK’s AIDS crisis response to future public health issues
Verschuren, Imke (2025) Learning from AIDS : Applying policy lessons from the UK’s AIDS crisis response to future public health issues.
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| Abstract: | At the start of the 1980s, an unknown pathogen was cause for global concern. The virus responsible, HIV, resulted in a major global pandemic that still affects millions of people worldwide. It is often argued that policy responses from resource-rich countries were delayed because of stigmas surrounding those most at risk. The United Kingdom was no exception, with then-Prime Minister Thatcher at the head of a famously strict moralist government. However, compared to other resource-rich countries, the number of HIV and AIDS infections has remained remarkably small. Research has made it clear that in the 21st century, minorities are still disproportionately affected by disease. As governments around the world are developing pandemic response strategies after COVID-19, it is important to analyse what role social stigmas play in this disparity. Thus, this thesis aims to assess how social stigmas influenced the UK government’s response to AIDS in the first decade of viral threat (between 1981 and 1989) and what subsequent policy lessons can be drawn regarding modern government responses to public health issues. A mixed-method case study of the HIV/AIDS crisis in the UK between 1981 and 1989 was used to allow for the data triangulation necessary to validate conclusions based on mostly qualitative data. Overall attitudes and politization of the disease resulting from societal racism, homophobia, and moralism resulted in delays in policy implementations, the dragging out of decision-making processes, or even a total lack of action in the case of the LGBTQ+ community. As the incidence of HIV and AIDS grew, a peculiar combination of bottom-up and top-down governance could be observed. Public priority-setting and crisis definition were spearheaded by top government officials, while policy implementations and developments themselves were organised around community representatives. The most famous example of this is the ‘Don’t Die of Ignorance’ campaign, consisting of a leaflet drop to every household in the country and accompanying television advertisements. The UK’s strategy positively affected the development of scientific knowledge and efforts to elevate the issue’s crisis status, but failed to properly address disproportionate effects on marginalised communities. This resulted in a favourable outcome in the short term as well as in the following decade, but a considerable amount of damage was done in the long term by the government’s failure to address social attitudes. |
| Item Type: | Essay (Master) |
| Faculty: | BMS: Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences |
| Subject: | 10 humanities in general, 70 social sciences in general, 88 social and public administration, 89 political science |
| Programme: | Public Administration MSc (60020) |
| Link to this item: | https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/107728 |
| Export this item as: | BibTeX EndNote HTML Citation Reference Manager |
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