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A Big Disease With A Little Name

A Big Disease with a Little Name: Don't Die of Ignorance

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Episode 5

Don't Die of Ignorance

A Big Disease with a Little Name

BBC Radio 4 - A Big Disease with a Little Name, Don't Die of Ignorance

Norman Fowler recalls his time leading the British government's response to AIDS.

Norman Fowler recalls his time leading the British government's response to AIDS in the 1980s, and the development of one of the UK's most-famous public health campaigns.

In 1987 the British government launched its Don't Die of Ignorance campaign - a public health message which would define AIDS for a generation. 

Behind the campaign was the then Secretary or State for Health and Social Services, Norman Fowler. In this episode he recalls the slow response to AIDS within Whitehall, and how he decided to take charge.

Through some careful political manoeuvring, he reveals how he side-stepped Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's concerns about explicit language, and that any mention of sex might encourage young people to take more risks, 

He also reveals the prejudice of high-profile public figures, and how they motivated him to do something about the emerging epidemic.

Narrator: Chris Pavlo
Producer: Richard Fenton-Smith

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Factual: Health & Wellbeing

Charting the early years of the AIDS crisis, as told by the people who lived through it

Charting the early years of the AIDS crisis, as told by the people who lived through it, from patients to medical staff, activists and politicians.

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