AIDS: From Social History to Social Policy

Abstract

Despite philosopher George Santayana's famous injunction that those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it, history holds no simple truths. Nevertheless, there are a number of significant historical questions relating to the AIDS epidemic. What does the history of medicine and public health have to tell us about contemporary approaches to the very difficult dilemmas raised by AIDS? Is AIDS something totally new, or are there instances in the past that are usefully comparable? Are there some lessons in the way science and society has responded to epidemic disease in the past that could inform our understanding of and response to the current health crisis?There are obviously no simple answers to such questions. History is not a fable with the moral spelled out at the end. Even if we could agree on a particular construction of past events, it would not necessarily lead to consensus on what is to be done. And yet, history provides us with one means of approaching the present. In this regard, the history of responses to particular diseases can inform and deepen our understanding of the AIDS crisis and the medical, social, and public health interventions available.