1 December 2025 marks the 37th World AIDS Day. The Royal College of Physicians Archives, Heritage Library and Museum Collections continue to seek donations of material relating to the history of HIV/AIDS.

Objects recently offered to the collection:

AIDS Don’t die of Ignorance leaflet, 1987

This leaflet was delivered to every household in Britain in 1987 by the UK government, as part of a national campaign to inform the public about AIDS.

The cover features an image of a tombstone engraved with the words “AIDS” and “Don’t die of ignorance.”

According to the Terrence Higgins Trust, the stark messaging of both this leaflet campaign and tv advertising campaigns, reflected the reality of the time and undoubtedly saved countless lives. The leaflet warned: “There is no cure. It Kills”

Today, however, HIV transmission and treatment are very different. Advances in medications mean that people living with HIV can lead long, healthy lives. In the UK, 97% of those diagnosed and on treatment are virally suppressed and cannot pass on HIV.

Donated by Dawn Kemp

Oral history interview with Lord Norman Fowler, Former Secretary of State for Health and Social Services

In a recent oral history interview donated to the archives, Lord Norman Fowler reflected on leading the UK’s ground-breaking HIV/AIDS campaign in the mid-1980s. With no treatment available and predictions of rapidly rising infections, he felt an urgent responsibility to act, especially as the disease was hitting the gay community hardest amid widespread stigma. He consulted voluntary organisations such as the Terrence Higgins Trust and pushed for clear, factual public health messaging. 

Lord Fowler faced strong political resistance, particularly from Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, who feared that discussing sexual risk would encourage it. To break the deadlock, he created a specialist Cabinet committee chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Willie Whitelaw, supported by Chief Medical Officer, Donald Acheson. Together they accelerated the campaign, introduced measures such as clean needle provision, and secured broad public backing. Television and radio public messaging was used extensively, and behaviour change helped reduce rates of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections.

Looking back, Lord Fowler believed the campaign saved many lives. Today, as a UN Ambassador for AIDS, he is concerned by waning international commitment, especially cuts to major US programmes and regrets that HIV has largely slipped from the UK’s public consciousness. He argues that the honesty and clarity of the 1980s campaign still offer vital lessons for government communication and global public health efforts.

Donated by Lord Norman Fowler

"Compound Q", c 1989

Compound Q was the common name for trichosanthin, an experimental antiviral drug derived from the root of the Chinese cucumber plant Trichosanthes kirilowii. It was investigated in the late 1980s as a potential treatment for HIV/AIDS.

In San Francisco in 1989, 51 people with AIDS and six doctors took part in underground trials of Compound Q.

“My options are death and doing this,” explained Bob Barnett, one of the participants of the unapproved Compound Q trials.

Experimental drugs such as Compound Q offered a brief hope to patients and activists, who pushed for faster access to experimental treatments while clinical trials moved slowly.

The underground trials were controversial. Although some participants believed they experienced benefits, serious neurological side effects and deaths were reported. These outcomes showed the risks that many patients were willing to take when conventional treatment options were limited or ineffective.

Offered for donation by Dr Mike Youle.

World AIDS Day is a global movement to unite people in the fight against HIV and AIDS. Since 1988, communities have stood together on World AIDS Day to show strength and solidarity against HIV stigma and to remember lives lost.

The Royal College of Physicians Museum aims to collect objects and stories that share the impact of HIV/AIDS from the 1980s until present day. By donating, you will be preserving these stories for future generations.