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Disease: between social imagination and political fact

Hôtel de Région 1 esplanade François Mitterand, Lyon, France

How do the representations of a disease influence the means set up to fight it and the care provided to patients? What role do worst-case scenarios and other fictions play in health safety policies? The risk of stigma incurred by those who suffer from diseases (HIV/AIDS, Ebola…) serves to remind us that we cannot ignore the social and political significance of a medical diagnosis.