Although not of his own bidding, Coutinho's preoccupation with policymaking and the media decreased significantly after 1992. A quite visible expert began to hibernate. He felt content with these developments since he had become worn out with endless debates in committees and with telling the same stories to the media over and over again. Expert hibernation in this sense does not mean he was entirely absent in the media or in policymaking, but compared to the preceding and following periods there was a significant decrease of exposure. There is one event, however, which demonstrates his view as an expert on health problems. After a decline in HIV/Aids cases in 1993, he later reported the epidemic to be far from over, and stated how he thought the problem should be prevented: 'It makes a huge difference when you get the problem out in the open' (Trouw 5 December 1998) . This strategy was put to the test during the 1980s, and it passed. He says that it has been the key to his expert policy and still is today.