History
In the US the CDC launched a series of 13 bold and frank AIDS advertisements breaking away from their previous low-key approach. The advertisements focused on the use of condoms, which were rarely seen or even mentioned on American television.
"One of the television ads, entitled Automatic, features a condom making its way from the top drawer of a dresser across the room and into bed with a couple about to make love. The voice-over says, 'it would be nice if latex condoms were automatics. But since they're not using them should be. Simply because a latex condom, used consistently and correctly, will prevent the spread of HIV.'"34
In the UK, the Department of Health vetoed an AIDS campaign promoting safer sex and condoms, developed at a cost of £2 million, on the grounds that it was too explicit.35 The campaign was developed by the Health Education Authority (a government funded body), who later in the year were banned by the Department of Health from distributing the book, "Your Pocket Guide to Sex".36
In February the film maker Derek Jarman died of AIDS. He wrote in the preface of his autobiography:
"On 22nd of December 1986, finding I was body positive, I set myself a target: I would disclose my secret and survive Margaret Thatcher. I did. Now I have my sights on the millennium and a world where we are equal before the law."37
Randy Shilts, author of the book 'And the band played on' also died in February.38
In March, the actor Tom Hanks won an Oscar for playing a gay man with AIDS in the film Philadelphia.39
Official statistics for Brazil, with a population of about 154 million, indicated that some 46,000 cases of AIDS had been recorded, but estimates put the actual number at anywhere between 450,000 and 3 million cases. Two thirds of the known cases were in Sao Paulo state where AIDS was the leading cause of death of women aged 20-35.
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