Understanding AIDS
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 Title page (back cover) of pamphlet | |
| Author | United States Public Health Service |
|---|---|
| Language | English, Spanish |
| Published | 1988 |
| Publication place | United States |
| Pages | 8 |
Understanding AIDS is a pamphlet or brochure created by the United States government and mailed to every American household in 1988 as a response to the AIDS epidemic.[1] It was the largest mass mailing in American history.[2] The decision to create the pamphlet was made by Surgeon General C. Everett Koop, under a congressional mandate.[3]
The pamphlet contains simple information about AIDS and HIV, and factual descriptions of how it is transmitted through sexual contact and drug use. It advocates for abstinence, monogamy, condom use, and sex education for young people. It encourages the reader not to fear day-to-day contact with people with AIDS, but to instead offer them love and support.[4]
The pamphlet is introduced by Koop and includes passages by NIAID director Anthony Fauci and CDC director James O. Mason.
Distribution
Approximately 126 million copies of Understanding AIDS were distributed. Their printing and mailing cost about 20 cents per copy—in total, about $25.2 million[1] (approx. $0.46 per copy in 2024, equivalent in total to about $57 million[5]). The pamphlet was mailed to all 107 million US households, "making it the largest public health mailing ever."[6]
One million advance copies of the brochure were sent to doctors, nurses, dentists, pharmacists, hospitals, and public health officials to prepare them for questions about AIDS from the public.[7]
The 1988 distribution of Understanding AIDS was of an English-language version of the brochure, with a Spanish version distributed in Puerto Rico. Only later would the brochure be translated into other languages or distributed electronically.[1]