Public policies are the response of public power to social issues. They are very relevant strategies to face AIDS and the development of prevention measures concerning HIV infection, for they institutionalize systematic actions in the public health sector with this purpose. They are structured in a network of directives that establish the routes to be followed by public officials. Within this context, different actors are part of the game, with different interests and social and political bargaining powers, world concepts negotiation, actions strategies within the field of social rights and duties. It's a struggle of knowledge and interests in the political ground permeated by social, cultural and economic aspects. Therefore, this paper engages in a concept discussion of the theme, developing a theoretical concept of policies assessment from the viewpoint of a methodological study comprising the following: actors, content, context and process, process circumscribing specific agenda designing processes, policy formulation and implementation. This theoretical scenario is developed focusing on the theme of AIDS prevention, the context being the Brazilian environment from which some of the constraints of policies proposals are listed and linked to specialists'considerations pursuing a reorientation of public interventions concerning AIDS prevention.
Public policies; Acquired Immuno-deficiency Syndrome