Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2000. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Newsday - July 14, 2000
Laurie Garrett, Staff Correspondent
Speaking here at the 13th International AIDS Conference, Dr. Neal Nathanson, director of the Office of AIDS Research in the National Institutes of Health, used strong language to attack what he termed a "paltry response" to the epidemic.
"After what I'm about to say to you I may not have a job on Monday," Nathanson told his audience. "I think this meeting will be seen 10 years from now as a terribly important point in the AIDS epidemic. A defining moment. We're at a crossroads."
Nathanson detailed the state of the pandemic as well as NIH research into vaccines, microbicides and treatments.
And then he went on the attack.
"Frankly, the industrial countries have not been at an equal level in their commitment to AIDS research," he said, noting that many "fine European scientists are unfunded or underfunded by their own governments."
Europe, he insisted, "needs to increase its investment five fold, at least."
And U.S. government funding of HIV/AIDS control programs worldwide, Nathanson insisted, is "only a drop in the bucket" at its current $100-million-to-$200 million level.
"That needs to be increased ten- to fifteen-fold," he said, adding that an annual U.S. commitment to international HIV prevention ought to be $10 billion.
In Washington, White House spokesman Jake Siewert said the administration has asked Congress to provide $325 million in the current fiscal year to fight AIDS overseas, which he said would represent a two-fold increase over 1998 funding levels. "We consider that substantial," he said.
But Siewert said Congress has balked at some parts of that request and has often underfunded AIDS programs-although he noted that the House voted yesterday to increase funding for one important anti- AIDS program that combats childhood disease.
The House yesterday voted to increase by $42 million funding for an overseas child survival and disease program related to HIV/AIDS, bringing total funding to $244 million. New York Senate candidate, Rep. Rick Lazio (R-Brightwaters), voted with most Republicans against the additional funding.
Staff writers Ken Fireman and Sara Kugler contributed to this story.
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