108th Congress

Children and Family HIV/AIDS Research and Care Act of 2004

S. 2892

Background

Certain Members of Congress have a longstanding interest in addressing the needs of children and youth infected with HIV, both within the United States and internationally, specifically in the areas of prevention, treatment, research, and services. Provisions aimed at ensuring access to research for this population were included in the Ryan White CARE Act of 2000 (P.L. 106-345) and are scheduled to expire in 2005. Thus, Senator Christopher J. Dodd (D-CT) introduced S. 2892, the Children and Family HIV/AIDS Research and Care Act of 2004, to ensure that the special needs of children and youth with HIV/AIDS would be addressed. In his introductory remarks, Senator Dodd said that children and youth are not “small adults,” that HIV infection progresses more rapidly and differently in children, and that special emphasis should be placed on the development of the therapies and formulations necessary to treat this population. Provisions of S. 2892 were aimed at 1) ensuring family-centered, coordinated care for children with HIV/AIDS and their families, 2) expanding health care and supportive services for HIV-infected youth ages 18–24, 3) ensuring that States allocate adequate resources for children with HIV/AIDS and their families, and 4) ensuring access to research for infants, children, and youth.

Provisions of the Legislation/Impact on NIH

Section 5 of the bill would have amended section 2671 of the Public Health Service Act to require the Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), acting through the Director of the Office of AIDS Research and in collaboration with the Secretary of Defense, all relevant NIH Institutes and Centers (ICs), and other federally funded HIV vaccine research programs, to submit to the appropriate committees of Congress a report on the status of relevant activities under NIH’s plan for HIV-related research relating to the testing of vaccine candidates in pediatric populations. The report would have included 1) plans for expanding the existing capacity for HIV vaccine candidate testing at all NIH ICs and clinical trials networks and other relevant Federal programs, 2) plans for increasing coordination across NIH, the Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and other Federal agencies, 3) guidelines for initiating HIV vaccine testing in relevant pediatric populations, and 4) proposed community education efforts in support of the inclusion of relevant pediatric populations in HIV vaccine clinical trials.

The Director of NIH would have also been required to invest in domestic and international research on 1) the long-term health effects of preventive drug regimens on HIV-exposed pediatric populations, 2) the long-term health, psychosocial, and prevention needs of pediatric populations infected perinatally, 3) the transition to adulthood for HIV-infected pediatric populations, and 4) safer and more effective treatment options for these populations.

Status and Outlook

S. 2892 was introduced by Representative Dodd on October 5, 2004, and was referred to the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions. No further action occurred on this legislation during the 108th Congress.