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18 Child. Legal Rts. J. 56 (1998)
Spotlight On: American Foundation for AIDS Research

handle is hein.journals/clrj18 and id is 138 raw text is: Children's Legal Rights Journal Spotlight On: American Foundation for AIDS Research by Nancy Lazar AIDS is the fifth leading cause of death in chil- dren under 15 years old. Approximately 20,000 children in the United States are currently living with HIV, of which over 7,000 have developed AIDS. Of the 7,000 infants born each year to HIV- infected women in the United States, 2,000 will test positive for HIV. These HIV-positive infants confront the dismal statistics of the typical sur- vival rate of HIV-infected children. While HIV- positive adults typically develop AIDS after ten years, most HIV-infected infants develop AIDS in merely one year. Ten percent of HIV-infected in- fants die before their first birthday, and one-third die by the age of three. Dr. Arthur Ammann, President of the American Foundation for AIDS Research (AmFAR), is lead- ing the fight against HIV infection of children. Am- FAR is the nation's leading nonprofit organization committed to the funding of both basic and clinical biomedical research on HIV/AIDS, HIV/AIDS pre- vention, and sensible HIV/AIDS public policy. Al- though AmFAR does not currently receive any federal grants and has not received such grants for the past two years, AmFAR has successfully raised funds in support of the ongoing battle against the spread of HIV/AIDS. AmFAR's fundraising suc- cesses are dedicated primarily to three areas: (1) Public Policy; (2) Research and Education; and (3) Seminars. AmFAR develops HIV/AIDS-related public pol- icy in such areas as HIV testing, privacy and confi- dentiality issues, and needle exchange programs. AmFAR also funnels a significant amount of its funds to the continuance of HIV/AIDS research and education. Since the inception of AmFAR in 1985, AmFAR has provided grants totaling more than $144 million to over 1,700 research teams nation- ally and worldwide. In order to educate both the medical community and the community-at-large, AmFAR hosts seminars for both health care profes- sionals to update methods of HIV/AIDS treatment and the general public to disseminate current in- formation about HIV/AIDS and prevention methods. According to Dr. Ammann, the success of HIV/AIDS research has chang[ed] the face of this disease in the U.S. The ongoing HIV/AIDS re- search has decelerated the transformation of HIV infection into full-blown AIDS, increased the number of treatment options available to HIV- infected individuals, and has allowed more HIV- infected individuals to lead healthy and productive lifestyles. Nevertheless, the HIV/AIDS epidemic is not go- ing away. Dr. Ammann believes that there is a cur- rent American misperception about the status of HIV/AIDS. He fears that many Americans believe that HIV/AIDS is under control. However, Dr. Am- mann stresses that HIV/AIDS is coming under control, but it is not controlled as yet, nor is it eradicated. We have not as yet cured a single pa- tient. Despite the decrease in HIV/AIDS related mor- tality, the number of persons living with HIV/AIDS has significantly increased. Consequently, Dr. Am- mann believes that HIV/AIDS research needs to be more focused and more aggressive. Specifically, ef- fective HIV/AIDS treatment will require (1) an in- crease in funding for HIV/AIDS research, (2) cost-effective HIV/AIDS treatment, and (3) more concentrated funding for vaccine research. On February 3, 1998, Dr. Ammann testified before the Committee on Appropriation's Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and related agencies in the House of Representatives and requested a 15% increase in funding for Na- tional Institute of Health (NIH) research across the board. A strong NIH is an investment in achiev- ing the goal of a healthier nation and a healthier world. Moreover, the costly drugs of AZT and protease inhibitors which typically treat HIV-infected indi- viduals are not easily accessible to those who are most in need of HIV/AIDS treatment. HIV/AIDS has a disproportionate impact upon minority Vol. 18+No. 2+Spring 1998

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