[Letter to President Bill Clinton form R. Scott Hitt]

PRESIDENTIAL

ADVISORY
July 26, 1997
COUNCIL ON
HIV/AIDS
The Honorable William Jefferson Clinton
The White House
Washington, D.C. 20500
Dear Mr. President:
Reauthorization of your Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS and recognition that
only 40 months remain in your Presidency offer a valuable opportunity for
taking stock of our shared commitment to defeat HIV disease. Securing
unprecedented funding for AIDS, establishing the Offices of AIDS Research
and National AIDS Policy, convening the White House Conference on
HIV/AIDS, developing the first-ever National AIDS Strategy and setting a
goal of development within a decade of a vaccine to prevent AIDS have been
major milestones in this fight, milestones of which you can be justly proud.
We are concerned, however, about the growing perception that in your second
term HIV/AIDS issues are not the high priority that they were during the first
term and that certain Administration personnel may not share your personal
commitment to these issues.
You clearly articulated in the National AIDS Strategy preamble the six
simple, but vital goals necessary to end this epidemic. You have told us
publicly and privately that you expect us to give you the truth, unvarnished, as
we perceive it. In that spirit, we constantly strive to recognize both the
accomplishments and inadequacies resulting from Administration actions and
to ensure that perceptions of those actions mirror as closely as possible their
realities.
As you stated in the opening words of your national strategy, "the epidemic of
HIV and AIDS constitutes a public health crisis of unprecedented
proportions." The challenges facing us require maintaining the urgency of
the "crisis," while pursuing the permanent systemic changes necessary to deal
with HIV/AIDS long after you leave office.
806 17th Street. N.W., Suite 820 If we are to convert the promise of your words to reality for those affected by
Washington, DC 20006 HIV disease, much remains to be done during the next 40 months.