AIDS in the UK: The Making of Policy, 1981-1994 [Hardcover]

Virginia Berridge (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0198204728 | ISBN-13: 978-0198204725 | Publication Date: July 25, 1996

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 fascinating and scholarly account, Virginia Berridge analyses a remarkable period in contemporary British history, and exposes the reaction of the British public and British political and medical elites to one of the most challenging issues of this century.

Editorial Reviews

Review

`serves as a model of how contemporary history should be professionally addressed ... it has successfully accumulated evidence from a wide range of sources and respondents in order to recreate the confusion, jealousies, excitement and anxieties of those involved in formulating and implementing AIDS policy ... the book triumphantly reaffirms the relevance of social history to current policy.' Rodney Lowe, Social History Bulletin

`Carefully and intelligently researched, this analytical and succinct overview of the evolving perceptions of AIDS constitutes a fundamental historical account and is of contemporary relevance as AIDS policies further evolve.' Contemporary British History

`An admirably judicious study, it refuses to identify heroes or villains ... the empirical detail is rich and revealing. This is an important and valuable book.' New Statesman and Society

`Berridge's skill as a historian has never been shown to better advantage. She steers her way through a mass of diffuse material with the skill of a tightrope walker, always keeping her balance. The result is a work of considerable scholarship which manages to be as riveting as a thriller. A considerable achievement' Irvine Loudon, Journal of Royal Society of Medicine

`Virginia Berridge has done an excellent job...AIDS in the UK can be highly recommended not only to all those in Britain who have been concerned with AIDS in the past 15 years but also to everyone who is interested in reading how the United Kingdom has handled the AIDS epidemic until now.' British Medical Journal

`a wide range of sources - including interviews with activists, acaemics, doctors and senior government officials - means that it casts light on a range of issues thrown up by the Aids crisis ... An admirably judicious study ... This is an important and valuable book.' Jeffrey Weeks, New Statesman and Society

`Her scrupulously gathered (and useful) evidence suggests that government strategy has, in fact, been made by pragmatists, with little regard for ideology.' The Guardian

`In the meantime, may I stongly recommend AIDS in the UK by Virginia Berridge - a serious but readable and fair account of the development of AIDS policy in Britain.' The Trust Newsletter

`Her book is coolly written, impressively (but not, as it could so easily be, overwhelmingly) detailed, and judicious throughout. She weaves together strands of science, medicine, policy and culture in a richly worked account of the AIDs years in Britain which will interest anyone who wants to reflect on the AIDs experience.' Times Higher Education Supplement

`Berridge's book is the most exhaustive and persuasive study to date of policy making for the AIDS/HIV epidemic in any country. As a result of industrious interviewing and reading over more than half a decade, she and her late colleague, Phil Strong, acquired extraordinary knowledge of the politics of policy making for the epidemic in the UK ... she makes good use of the research and analysis of other scholars, crediting them thoroughly in both text and notes.' Daniel M. Fox, Medical History, Oct. 1997. 41

About the Author

Virginia Berridge is Reader in History at the Health Promotion Sciences Unit, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, University of London.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 408 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (July 25, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0198204728
• ISBN-13: 978-0198204725
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.7 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Thorough Analysis of the Politics of AIDS, July 31, 2003

By 

Paul Sendziuk (Melbourne, Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: AIDS in the UK: The Making of Policy, 1981-1994 (Paperback)

Berridges '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 medias attention; and finally the current period of uncertainty in which Britains 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 Garfields 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.