President Clinton Releases First-Ever National AIDS Strategy

12/20/96 FRI 18:55 FAX [phone]

AIDS POLICY

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THE WHITE HOUSE
WAS HIN GTO N
For Immediate Release Contact: Richard Sorian
Office of National AIDS Policy
[phone]
President Clinton Releases First-Ever National AIDS Strategy
On December 16, 1996, President Clinton released the first-ever National AIDS
Strategy, establishing six "broad but vital goals" to guide Federal AIDS policy for his
second term in office. The document also outlines numerous "opportunities for progress"
under each of the goals to be accomplished in the next 12 months.
The National AIDS Strategy is the product of more than a year of work by the
Office of National AIDS Policy, dixuted by Patricia S. Fleming. The Office was created
in 1993 by the President to provide greater focus to the national response to the
challenges presented by HIV and AIDS.
In a letter accompanying the Strategy, the President said, "We have made
tremendous progress in our understanding of FDV and HIV disease, improving
treatments and preventing infections, and we have increased federal funding for AIDS
research, prevention, care, and housing by more than 50 percent in the past four years.
But we have much more work to do."
As of September 30, 1996, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had
received reports of 566,002 cases of AIDS among persons in the U.S. More than 343,000
of these persons were reported to have died as a result of complications related to HIV.
An estimated 40,000 to 80,000 Americans become infected with HIV each year.
According to the Strategy, the epidemic of HIV and AIDS "presents unique social,
economic, and public health challenges to governments and individuals here in the
United States and around the world. While significant progress has been made in
understanding the disease and developing treatment, HV remains a deadly infections for
which there is no vaccine, no cure, and for which there is an expanding, but still limited,
inventory of available treatments."
Development of the National AIDS Strategy required the participation of 28
Federal Agencies involved in AIDS programs including the Departments of Health and
Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, Veterans Affairs, Defense, State,
Energy, Justice, and others. The Strategy also reflects the input of numerous national
and community-based AIDS organizations and the proceedings of 13 regional town hall
meetings that sought the input of people living with HIV/AIDS, their families and
caregivers, and other concerned citizens.
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