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A2: luescay. June 29, 1993 weeees

 

‘Failure of leadership’ costing
more lives, AIDS panel says

Political shuffling
seen as big culprit
By Erica A. Littlejohn
WASHINGTON BUREAU

Washington — The National
Commission on Acquired Im-
mune Deficiency Syndrome end-
ed a four-year study of the AIDS

What people think
about AIDS

Over the past seven years, more
people have begun to view AIDS
as a growing health threat, by
according to a recent study by .
Prevention magazine.

« How those surveyed . aye, >

crisis Monday with a final report «

that criticized “‘a failure of lead-
ership” in fighting the epidemic.

“A strong, consistent voice of
leadership could have steered
courses of action that might have
interrupted the relentless contin-
uation of HIV spread,” said Dr.
June Osborn, chairwoman of the
commission, “instead of silently
tolerating the epidemic’s esca-
lation.”

Since the first AIDS cases
were reported 12 years ago,
more than 289,000 AIDS cases
and 179,000 deaths have been re-
corded, according to the panel’s

report, “AIDS: An Expanding

Tragedy.”

It said that at least 1 million
people are infected with the HIV
virus, leading to as many as
80,000 new cases of AIDS annu-
ally.

While the number of new
cases among homosexuals is ex-
pected to stabilize by 1995, the
rate of infection among hetero-
Sexuals, women, adolescents and
minorities is expected to rise.

“We were given an early
warning by the gay community
that we failed to take notice of,”
Dr. Osborn said.

Although “new hope surged
with the election of President
Clinton,” the report Said, “now
there is cause for serious con-
cern that the response to the epi-
demic is again tangled in
politics.” .

“The appalling lack of frank
discussion about the epidemic. at
all levels of national leadership
fostered a woefully inadequate

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

‘response, yielding death and suf-:

fering well in excess of what
might have been,” it said.

Donald Goldman, a commis-
sion member, said that because
leaders have not been frank
about AIDS, many people still do
not realize that “there is no cure.
The idea that there will one day
be some technology out for the
terrible problems we face,” he
said, “is as unrealistic as the ado-
lescent who has sex without a
condom ... and believes he is in-
vincible.

“If Clinton spoke today, and__

spoke effectively, thousands of

lives would be saved,” Mr. Gold-
man said. “‘The lives we save to-
day are cases that would occur in
the next decade.”

Another commissioner, Dr.
Charles Konigsberg, complained
that the AIDS fight has been
hampered by numerous “restric-
tions on what you can and cannot
teach.”

The commission repeatedly
has called for more sex educa-

‘tion in schools, distribution of

condoms, access to clean sy-
ringes for drug users and drug
rehabilitation programs. But
some groups have argued that
the proper way ‘to fight the epi-
demic is to promote moral be-
havior such as abstinence from

sex and drugs.

“The moral thing to do is to
give lifesaving information to
our teenagers,” said Dr. David
Rogers, vice chairman of the
commission.

The 15-member commission
will officially go out of business
in September. It was created by
Congress in 1989 to help Con-
gress design a national policy on
AIDS.

As it ends its four years of
work on AIDS, the commission
has made two final recommenda-
tions. It encouraged leaders at all
levels to speak out to their con-
Stituents and develop a clear
plantoconfront AIDS. —

“We will perish without mor-
al leadership,” said Commission-
er Mary Fisher, who offered her
personal message for Mr. Clin-
ton and recently appointed AIDS
czar Kristine Gebbie.

“We must speak thoughtfully,
boldly and consistently,” she
said. “If we lower our voice ...
we have failed not only at public
policy, but at public trust. Re-
member the promise of leader-
ship and lead.”