State of AIDS Forum Challenges Leaders in Fight Against AIDS

Contact: José Zuniga
(202) 986-1300, Ext. 3042

WASHINGTON, DC - America's leaders in the fight against AIDS will convene in Washington, D.C., July 14 for a State of AIDS Forum that will both define and respond to the political, social and scientific challenges posed by an evolving epidemic. AIDS Action's 1997 State of AIDS Forum comes at a time when the AIDS community is grappling with the implications of promising AIDS drug therapies, an historic decline in AIDS deaths, and the need to re-define our national and local response to AIDS.

"Those who define the debate around AIDS will effect the change necessary to find a cure and vaccine, prevent further infections, and care for those already infected. One thing is certain, we are about to leave behind AIDS as we have known it for over 16 years," said Daniel Zingale, AIDS Action's executive director. "We have invited our nation's AIDS leaders and members of the media to participate in what may well define not only this moment in history, but perhaps how the next chapter will read."

The forum will bring together chief executive officers of the nation's leading AIDS service providers, Clinton administration officials, public health and AIDS policy experts, clinicians, and people living with HIV and AIDS. Among some of the confirmed attendees are Dr. Helene Gayle, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) National Center for HIV, STD & TB Prevention, and Sandra Thurman, director of the White House Office of National AIDS Policy.

A two-hour media briefing will open the State of AIDS Forum. The briefing begins at 9 a.m. in the Main Ballroom of the National Press Club in Washington, DC. Dr. David Ho, TIME Magazine's "Man of the Year," has been invited to present [confirmation pending]. Gayle will release the CDC's latest AIDS surveillance report, including information on whether or not the decline in AIDS deaths in the United States will continue. Additionally, five other presenters will speak on the clinical, political, and AIDS service implications of HIV disease in 1997 and beyond. A roundtable discussion among the presenters, a panel of AIDS community leaders, and members of the media will immediately follow the presentations. Bentley Health Care, Inc., is generously underwriting the forum.

Media credential forms are available upon request by calling Kurt Schade, communications assistant, at (202) 986-1300, Ext. 3060.

AIDS Action is the nation's foremost AIDS advocacy organization, representing all Americans affected by HIV and AIDS and over 1,400 community-based organizations that serve them.