The Institute of Medicine, National Academy of Sciences: formulating AIDS policy.

In 1985 the Institute of Medicine, National Academy of Sciences devoted its annual meeting to an exploration of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). The questions raised at the meeting propelled the IOM/NAS to initiate an assessment of the dimensions of the AIDS epidemic and to propose an appropriate national response. The Committee on a National Strategy for AIDS issued its report, "Confronting AIDS: Directions for Public Health, Health Care, and Research," in October 1986. The report detailed strategies for curbing the spread of infection, and for accelerating biomedical and social science research into the causes and possible cures for AIDS. In March 1987, the IOM/NAS established the AIDS Activities Oversight Committee to monitor and assess the nation's progress against AIDS and to coordinate the Academy's growing program of AIDS-related activities. Studies, conferences, and workshops are planned in the areas of drug and vaccine development, modeling the course of the epidemic, research in the behavioral and social sciences, equitable financing of care, pediatric AIDS, early cognitive impairment in HIV infection, IV drug abuse, and other topics.