History
As the global mobilisation against AIDS continued, a world summit of ministers of health was held in London to discuss a common AIDS strategy. The summit focused on programmes for AIDS prevention, and there were delegates from 148 countries.
One outcome of the meeting was the London Declaration on AIDS Prevention, which emphasised education, the free exchange of information and experience, and the need to protect human rights and dignity.45 The Director-General of the World Health Organization chose this occasion to announce that the WHO intended to promote an annual World AIDS Day, and the first such day would be on 1st December 1988.46
The meeting was opened by the UK's Princess Royal, who upset many people involved in AIDS education, as well as many people with AIDS, when she stated that:
"the real tragedy concerns the innocent victims, people who have been infected unknowingly, perhaps as a result of a blood transfusion … but possibly, worst of all, those babies who are infected in the womb and are born with the virus."47
If there are "innocent victims", then by implication there are also "guilty victims". This was an unfortunate suggestion to be making at a world meeting on AIDS prevention.
In May the United States finally launched a coordinated HIV/AIDS education campaign.48 The distribution took place of 107 million copies of "Understanding AIDS", a booklet by Surgeon General C. Everett Koop.49 'Understanding AIDS' was the single most widely read publication in the United States in June 1988, with 86.9 million readers.50
The following month the American Medical Association urged doctors to break confidentiality in order to warn the sexual partners of people being treated for AIDS.
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