Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1996. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1996. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Reuters NewMedia, Inc. - Monday, December 16, 1996 11:35:00 PM
The report sets six goals -- the top one being to cure AIDS and develop a vaccine. Others are to reduce and eliminate new infections, guarantee infected people access to health care, fight AIDS-related discrimination, support international efforts against the disease and ensure that scientific advances are quickly translated into improved care and prevention.
Clinton will formally receive the report from the advisory commission Tuesday. The administration is already working on some of the goals such as making a new push for a vaccine at the National Institutes of Health.
Although AIDS activists criticized some aspects of the report, approved 26-1 with 1 abstention by the commission, they generally praised Clinton for throwing the weight of the White House behind the war on AIDS.
"You have a president directly engaged with formulating a national strategy and communicating it to the public," said Cornelius Baker, executive director of the New York-based National Association of People With AIDS. He faulted the panel, however, for not dealing with how Medicaid and welfare changes will affect people with AIDS or at risk for infection.
The advisory group sidestepped whether the federal government should back needle-exchange programs for drug users, an issue that government health officials will take up separately after a major study is completed in February.
Advocates say there is mounting evidence that giving addicts clean needles reduces AIDS transmission through shared hypodermics. Critics fear it will only promote illegal drug use while not significantly slowing the spread of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.
The White House's top AIDS official, Patricia Fleming, has announced she will step down soon. Advocates urged Clinton to pick a successor with the ability and the clout to carry through on the recommendations.
"You need someone who is dynamic and political and willing to take a lot of lumps," said Spencer Cox, a spokesman for the Treatment Action Group.
In the 1980s there were other presidential commissions and panels but none with the sweep of this one and none with this much public involvement by the president himself.
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