Observers Praise AIDS Report But Foresee Problems In Implementation

Problems In Implementation LOUD AND CLEAR: Attorney Lynda Dee stresses the need for communication among the institutes. When a federally appointed panel announced in March the results of its 15-month-long review of the United States government's AIDS research program, AIDS activists as well as scientists cheered. The National Institutes of Health's AIDS Research Program Evaluation Working Group's recommendations largely called for scrapping what the group saw as outdated and ineffective polic

Steven Benowitz

May 12, 1996 | 10 min read

Problems In Implementation

LOUD AND CLEAR: Attorney Lynda Dee stresses the need for communication among the institutes.

When a federally appointed panel announced in March the results of its 15-month-long review of the United States government's AIDS research program, AIDS activists as well as scientists cheered. The National Institutes of Health's AIDS Research Program Evaluation Working Group's recommendations largely called for scrapping what the group saw as outdated and ineffective policies, and opened the door for more coordinated, focused research efforts. For scientists in particular, the proposed changes were welcome: The report explicitly cited the need for doubling funding for investigator-driven research.

Yet many who praised the report still cast a wary eye on the working group's suggestions. Some continue to take a wait-and-see attitude. Overhauling the nation's AIDS research program is no simple task, and implementing some admittedly grandiose plans will not be easy.

"How specific recommendations will play...

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