Resposta à aids no Brasil: contribuições dos movimentos sociais e da reforma sanitária / Response to AIDS in Brazil: contributions of social movements and the sanitary reform

ABSTRACT

This paper briefly outlines how the political scenario and the mobilization of different actors have contributed to the construction of a public health policy in response to the AIDS epidemics in Brazil. Three factors are presented and discussed the political context of the 1980s, characterized by redemocratization, growth of social movements, and consolidation of the Brazilian health care reform; the socio-cultural context of the 1970s and 1980s, characterized by achievement of individual freedom, which was key to the organization of the AIDS movement; and finally the actions carried out in the international scenario to support the sustainability of the Brazilian domestic policy and the reinforcement of a global response to face the epidemics in lower-middle income economies.