New NIH Web Resource Marks World AIDS Day

In recognition of World AIDS Day, December 1, 2001, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has launched a new Web resource that provides comprehensive information about the diverse array of NIH-supported HIV/AIDS research at its Bethesda, Maryland campus, across the United States, and around the world. All told, NIH committed more than $2.2 billion last year to HIV/AIDS research.

The site features numerous Web resources for researchers, health care workers, and the general public. Included are annotated links to the NIH FY2003 Plan for HIV-Related Research from the Office of AIDS Research, as well as clinical trials information; scientific and medical literature; on-line order forms for free publications; counseling information for NIH patients and staff, plus seminar information for the general community.

A statement by Anthony S. Fauci, M.D., director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), is also featured.

This past year, the fight against HIV/AIDS was bolstered by an unprecedented galvanization of resources and commitment toward curtailing AIDS in the developing world by governments, private foundations, activist groups, the United Nations, World Bank and other international organizations, and private industry. According to Dr. Fauci, "As we search for solutions to HIV/AIDS in the months and years ahead, let us not expend our energies searching for reasons why we should not act and why our efforts might fail; rather let us apply ourselves, collectively, to the task of developing sustainable programs and interventions that will overcome the scourge of HIV/AIDS."

World AIDS Day was first recognized in 1988 by the World Health Organization to focus global attention on the HIV/AIDS pandemic. This year, which marks the twentieth year since the disease was first reported, World AIDS Day also serves as an opportunity to honor all those who have helped advance HIV/AIDS research over the past two decades.

As a special exhibit marking this year's event, panels from the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt will be on display in the atrium of the NIH Warren Grant Magnuson Clinical Center from November 30 to December 5. Each panel of the Quilt, first created in 1987, commemorates a life lost to HIV/AIDS. Today the Quilt includes more than 44,000 panels.

Also, researchers from NIAID's Dale and Betty Bumpers Vaccine Research Center (VRC) are participating in a number of local community-based World AIDS Day activities to build partnerships around HIV vaccine development and testing. Just one year after its opening, VRC investigators recently began their first clinical trial of an experimental HIV vaccine developed at the facility.