History of the National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles

Abstract

A National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles (NATSAL) was proposed in the mid-1980s. This was to provide data to help predict and prevent the transmission and spread of HIV, in response to the critical need for information on the AIDS epidemic. Set up by biomedical and social scientists, NATSAL-1 was carried out in 1990, and the results used for AIDS projections and the national HIV and sexual health strategy. Subsequent surveys (NATSAL-2 and -3) have followed in 2000 and 2010 extending the objectives to include other sexually transmitted infections such as Chlamydia and Human Papillomavirus. Introduced by Professor Clive Seale, this volume focusses primarily on NATSAL-1 and addresses the background to the survey, the methodology, the results, and the funding: its initial support by the Department of Health, the dramatic withdrawal of government funds and subsequent funding by the Wellcome Trust. Contributors include many of the key people involved in setting up the survey, experts in public and sexual health, individuals from the Wellcome Trust, interviewers, and the Sunday Times journalist who, in September 1989, reported Margaret Thatcher’s veto of Government support.