History says no to the policeman's response to AIDS.

Porter, Robert A.

doi:10.1136/bmj.293.6562.1589

Cited by 19 publications

(8 citation statements)

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“…During the intensity of autumn 1986, politicians called upon medical historians for advice in how disease had been managed in the past, notably Dorothy and Roy Porter, internationally renowned specialists . The Porters' (Porter, 1986 andPorter andPorter, 1988) message was clear. They argued that the historical evidence was that punitive and repressive policies simply had not been effective in controlling sexually transmitted disease.…”

Section: Overcoming 'Victorian Values'?mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…They argued that there was no reason to think punitive measures would control the AIDS epidemic. This is reflected in the important article Porter (1986) published in the British Medical Journal, 'History Says No to the Policeman's Response to AIDS'. Norman Fowler (2014: 7) was aware of the historical evidence;, for example he discussed the failure of moral measures in the First World War with the appeals to soldiers to refrain from sex when they visited Paris and contrasted these with the success of more pragmatic measures such as the provision of prophylactic packs containing calomel ointment and the setting up of treatment facilities where troops could receive urethral irrigation within 24 hours of sex.…”

Section: Overcoming 'Victorian Values'?mentioning

confidence: 99%

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The development of risk politics in the UK: Thatcher’s ‘Remarkable’ but forgotten ‘Don’t Die of Ignorance’ AIDS campaign

Burgess

2017

Health, Risk & Society

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Thirty years on from the dramatic and unprecedented AIDS advertising campaign organised by the Conservative administration of the late 1980s, this article reassesses the experience drawing upon subsequent memoirs and interviews. It does so in the context of an emergence of risk politics in the UK in the 1980s, situated within an historical perspective on the development of risk within modernity. Emphasis is placed upon the forgotten pragmatic, amoral core of the campaign which challenged the illiberal climate of the times, and how it was possible for an administration defined by high moralism to challenge it. The range of pressures that led to the campaign are outlined, including a conscious attempt to limit stigmatisation amidst the mood of wartime emergency that prevailed in late 1986/early 1987. Its emergency character meant little direct legacy of harm reduction has endured, but the article argues for a wider significance of the campaign as a key moment in the emergence of risk politics in the UK and beyond.

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Section: Overcoming 'Victorian Values'?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Overcoming 'Victorian Values'?mentioning

confidence: 99%

The development of risk politics in the UK: Thatcher’s ‘Remarkable’ but forgotten ‘Don’t Die of Ignorance’ AIDS campaign

Burgess

2017

Health, Risk & Society

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“…QUARANTINE AND ISOLATION (5,7,8,9,13,18,35,36,37,38,39,40,41,42,43,44) This is obviously the solution that would best protect society against the spread of AIDS, but which implies, for the sick or sero-positive individual, the most fundamental violation of his freedom. While historical examples are many (diseases subject to quarantine, isolation of tuberculosis patients, compulsory treatment and hospitalisation for venereal diseases), the protection of others and the consequent violation of the patient's rights were accompanied in these cases by the hope of being treated and freed after cure.…”

Section: -Measures Intended To Protect Societymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Screening of target-groups has therefore been suggested: this would involve people associated with known risk factors: prostitution, homosexuality, intravenous drug addiction. We have underlined the markedly discriminatory character of such screening, which raises acute problems concerning confidentiality and anonymity (38). Alternatively people could be screened in particular circumstances such as blood donation, pregnancy, hospitalisation.…”

Section: -Measures Intended To Protect Societymentioning

confidence: 99%

The ethical approach to AIDS: a bibliographical review.

et al. 1990

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This bibliographical study involved first the exploitation of four data-banks: Medline, CNRS, Bioethics and AIDS, with the following key words (in conjunction with AIDS): ethics, human rights, confidentiality, legislation, jurisprudence. A total of 412 references were listed between 1983 and the end of 1987. Examination of the quantitative increase of articles over these years shows that, while references to AIDS and/or HIV infection--referred to as 'AIDS' for brevity--increased by about one third per year, the number of papers treating ethical problems linked to AIDS doubled each year. This increase makes it clear that these problems are important and pressing, that they are evolving rapidly and can be given no easy solution. After reading and analysis of accessible articles in readily comprehensible languages, the different themes can be classified in two categories: 1: Measures intended to protect society (starting with the most coercive); quarantine and isolation; discriminatory measures concerning specific groups; non-respect of the confidential nature of medical information; application of the penal code; screening; obligatory declaration and registration; testing of blood given by donors; vaccination and medical innovations, therapeutic assays; information, education. 2. Measures intended to protect the individual: fundamental rights of the patient: his/her right to confidentiality, to information and to treatment; civil rights: civil liberty, right to education, right to work, etc...; rights of the healthy individual: right of those in contact with the patients, safety of hospital staff, of those receiving blood-transfusions, etc... The legislation adopted in the various countries and the main opinions to be found in these articles are listed and analysed, and for each particular theme it is possible to refer to a list of the 232 most important articles. While the debate seems to concentrate on the conflict between the right of society to protect itself against the spread of infection and the 'civil' rights of the infected minorities, our conclusion tends to reduce this antagonism, showing that, particularly as far as the confidential nature of medical information is concerned, measures intended to protect the individual also protect society.

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“…Efforts to secure the willing cooperation of people at risk in the wake of World War I had been far more effective in both containing the spread of sexually acquired infection and in winning the confidence of service users. 4 The first Global Program on AIDS launched by WHO in 1987 was therefore rooted in these lessons of public health history advocating an evidence-informed and participatory rights-based approach. As AIDS awareness gained momentum, fears that a generalized heterosexual epidemic, as was emerging across Africa with devastating consequences, prompted a warlike response mid-decade, mobilizing political dialogue and participation at national and international levels.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

The Gay Community Response to the Emergence of AIDS in Ireland: Activism, Covert Policy, and the Significance of an “Invisible Minority”

Nolan

2017

J. Policy Hist.

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Abstract:The first response to AIDS in Ireland emerged from within a radical, socialist, and predominantly nationalist wing of the gay rights movement in 1985. At a time when homosexual acts were criminalized, the Irish state operated a policy of protracted nonengagement with Gay Health Action, while covertly supporting selected health-promotion activities. As international momentum unified around a response to the AIDS crisis characterized by value-neutral public health principles, the Irish State, and particularly the statutory health sector, was compelled to balance the views of a conservative voting majority at home with the liberal consensus that was defining the response internationally. AIDS was a catalyst for change throughout the world and Gay Health Action was at the forefront of that transformative movement in Ireland. At the outbreak of AIDS, the gay community was an “invisible minority” that by 1990 had pushed the boundaries of sexual health discourse to herald a more liberal age.

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History says no to the policeman's response to AIDS.

Cited by 19 publications

References 0 publications

The development of risk politics in the UK: Thatcher’s ‘Remarkable’ but forgotten ‘Don’t Die of Ignorance’ AIDS campaign

The development of risk politics in the UK: Thatcher’s ‘Remarkable’ but forgotten ‘Don’t Die of Ignorance’ AIDS campaign

The ethical approach to AIDS: a bibliographical review.

The Gay Community Response to the Emergence of AIDS in Ireland: Activism, Covert Policy, and the Significance of an “Invisible Minority”

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