The sample includes countries from all three macro-patterns of transmission routes but focuses on Western countries grouped together as one pattern. The countries were also selected to show contrasts in the social and epidemiological profiles of AIDS and to suggest the diversity of AIDS problems in various national contexts. The introduction outlines the choices that national governments confront in formulating AIDS policies. The chapters then profile the reactions to HIV/AIDS in the United States, Brazil, France, Belgium, West Germany, Italy, Poland, Australia, and Africa. The final chapter compares the patterns of national response, identifies their common and divergent features, and indicates tensions in policymaking caused by current changes in the spread of infection and in the understanding of the virus. This chapter addresses seven sets of factors that should be considered in analyses of the management of AIDS: the international context, the changing social profile of disease, the social identity of transmission categories, the extent of organization in high-risk communities, the participatory traditions of civil society, the extent of political consensus, and the resources and structure of the medical system. Chapter notes, bibliographic essay, subject index.