This book, written at the request of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to assist its AIDS program office in planning future directions, contains a series of recommendations for ensuring that AIDS research is a well-organized, well-planned, and comprehensive long-range program leading to the control and eventual eradication of the disease. The recommendations are intended to strengthen the planning, evaluation, and coordination of AIDS research activities; ensure their quality and cost-effectiveness; stimulate further development of promising research areas; increase the level of support for AIDS research so that researchers can carry out a comprehensive program; and provide the personnel and facilities at NIH needed to conduct and manage an effective, efficient AIDS research program.

The book also identifies barriers in the delivery and financing of health care that are outside NIH's responsibility, but that adversely affect its AIDS clinical research efforts, and urges federal action to eliminate them.

Contents

• Committee To Study the AIDS Research Program of the National Institutes of Health
• Preface
• Summary
• 1. AIDS: the Research Challenge
  • Uniqueness of the Epidemic
  • NIH's Response to the Emerging Epidemic
  • Demographics and Projections of the Epidemic
  • Health Care Financing
  • References
• 2. Managing the NIH AIDS Research Program
  • Organizational Structure
  • Strengthening Management of the NIH AIDS Research Program
  • References
• 3. Elements of the NIH AIDS Research Program
  • Basic Research
  • Vaccine Research and Development
  • Epidemiological Research
  • Behavioral Research
  • Nursing Research
  • Preclinical Drug Discovery and Development
  • Clinical Trials
  • Research Resources
  • Communication of Research Results
  • References
• 4. Supporting the NIH AIDS Research Program
  • Funding AIDS Research
  • Grants Policy and Administration
  • Administrative Support
  • References
• Appendix A Study Issues
• Appendix B Persons Who Were Interviewed by Committee or Staff or Who Provided Written Materials
• Appendix C National Institutes of Health Aids Program Advisory Committee
• Appendix D Abbreviations and Acronyms

The work on which this publication is based was performed pursuant to Contract No. N01-OD-9-2119 with the National Institutes of Health, Public Health Service, Department of Health and Human Services. This project, NIH Evaluation No. NIH-OD-89-309, received support from the evaluation set-aside, Section 513 of the Public Health Service Act.

NOTICE: The project that is the subject of this report was approved by the Governing Board of the National Research Council, whose members are drawn from the councils of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. The members of the committee responsible for the report were chosen for their special competencies and with regard for appropriate balance.

This report has been reviewed by a group other than the authors according to procedures approved by a Report Review Committee consisting of members of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine.

The Institute of Medicine was chartered in 1970 by the National Academy of Sciences to enlist distinguished members of the appropriate professions in the examination of policy matters pertaining to the health of the public. In this, the Institute acts under both the Academy's 1863 congressional charter responsibility to be an adviser to the federal government and its own initiative in identifying issues of medical care, research, and education.