Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1995. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

Reuters NewMedia, Inc. - 6 Dec 1995
Jim Wolf / Reuter

At the first-ever White House conference on AIDS and HIV, the virus that causes the fatal disease, Clinton said he had ordered the preparation of a government-wide research plan, including a coordinated research budget, within 90 days.

He also said he had asked Vice President Al Gore to convene a meeting of scientists and pharmaceutical industry leaders to study ways of speeding up the development of vaccines, therapeutics and other ways of protecting people from HIV and the infections it causes.

"There are no guarantees in science, of course, but the collective will of government and industry can overcome huge obstacles, as we have seen just in the last few years," the president said.

AIDS is now the leading killer of Americans between the ages of 25 and 44, with new infections growing fastest among young people, women and ethnic minorities. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported 12 days ago that the 500,000th American had been diagnosed with AIDS and more than 300,000 have died.

Worldwide, the World Health Organization estimates there have been 4.5 million AIDS cases and 18 million adults and 1.5 million children are infected with HIV.

After Clinton's opening remarks to the conference he took part for more than an hour in a discussion of needle-sharing among addicts, mandatory AIDS testing and pediatric AIDS.

More than 250 people attended the daylong conference, which drew a couple of dozen protesters to the White House gates to push for greater funding of AIDS research. As Clinton prepared to leave the Treasury Department, where the session was held, a heckler in the room shouted his disapproval of what the administration had done so far.

"I am very sorry that there is not a cure. I am very sorry that there is not a vaccine," Clinton replied, adding: "We will never be happy until we have solved the problem."

He seized the opportunity to urge the Republican-led Congress to maintain the Medicaid safety net, one of the programs threatened by efforts to balance the federal budget.

Medicaid pays for the care of nearly half of all Americans with AIDS, including more than 90 percent of the children.

"Medicaid is the lifeline of support," Clinton said. "It is the one thing that we have done that has helped us to drive down infant mortality among poor people who otherwise would never see a doctor."

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