AIDS Groups Say ‘Action Agenda’ Is Just More Talk : Clinton Administration calls its list of objectives a ‘starting point.’ Critics insist the time to end the rhetoric is overdue.

The Clinton Administration has outlined what it described as “an action agenda” for confronting the AIDS epidemic, but AIDS groups complained that the plan is woefully lacking in both action and specifics.

The document lists goals for combatting the epidemic, such as strengthening the research effort, eliminating the obstacles to developing an effective AIDS vaccine, expanding health services for people with HIV and developing education programs to prevent transmission. But it does not call for specific ways to achieve those ends.

“Who could argue with these goals? But all of this already has been said,” Dr. Mervyn F. Silverman, president of the American Foundation for AIDS Research, said Tuesday. “These are important--but they are goals and not actions. Now is the time to prioritize the major steps that need to be taken. We need to know who’s going to do what and how much money is it going to cost.”

Administration AIDS coordinator Kristine M. Gebbie insisted, however, that the documents represented only “the beginning” of a process--not the Administration’s detailed action plan.

“This is a starting point, a direction,” she said in an interview. “This was drafted to affirm the directions in which we are going and to give us a firm starting point--to say these are the things that have to be done but not how to do them. A lot of people must be a part of how we do them. All of this is a work in progress.”

The frustration expressed by group members who met with Gebbie on Tuesday appeared to reflect a growing feeling that the epidemic has already spawned enough goal-setting reports and that it is time for the Clinton Administration--as it had promised early in its tenure--to go beyond rhetoric.

The highly regarded National Commission on AIDS, for example, in its final report last June, pleaded with the federal government to design a comprehensive national strategy for prevention, care and research and said that such a plan is essential if the nation ever is to come to grips with the epidemic.

Many AIDS groups and others had hoped such a plan would be forthcoming from the Clinton Administration, specifically from Gebbie, who was chosen to coordinate the government’s efforts.

“A real plan looks at existing programs and reflects existing and future budget considerations,” said Dan Bross, executive director of the AIDS Action Council. “This is too broad. It’s too general. We need timelines attached to it. We need dollars attached to it. We could have said all this two years into the epidemic--not 13 years into the epidemic.”

Gebbie on Tuesday issued a six-page statement and list of goals to the organizations, and also circulated--but did not release--a more detailed memo expanding on the goals, copies of which were obtained by The Times.

The goals focused on research, services and prevention, calling research findings “the foundation for action.” The papers also called for improving prevention efforts but did not address funding for them. In his fiscal 1995 budget request, President Clinton sought no increase in the current $543 million for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention AIDS programs. The CDC is the federal agency responsible for AIDS prevention efforts.

The documents also failed to address such issues as discrimination against individuals with AIDS or existing U.S. immigration barriers, which have been a source of global controversy. Although the documents “encourage” the use of sterile needles by intravenous drug users, they do not specifically recommend needle exchange programs to reduce transmission.

One source familiar with the documents said he believes that “every relevant federal agency (should) do an assessment of where they are with AIDS programs and convene inside and outside experts in the scientific and community-based organizations to assess the programs--what the unanswered issues and questions are, what needs to be done, what resources are needed and how to do it.”

But Gebbie said the documents released Tuesday were written because “some people needed a piece of paper to hold onto that confirms our directions.”

Gebbie said she has asked the organizations “to identify the most critical actions to become part of the next round. And I assured these groups I will be talking with them again.”

Samples From the Document

AIDS organizations complain that the plan of attack being circulated by the Clinton Administration is too general. AIDS coordinator Kristine M. Gebbie defends it as merely a starting point.

AMONG THE GOALS

* “Nationally HIV/AIDS research strengthened through coordination, planning and evaluation.”

* “Early intervention information is provided to all those living with HIV.”

* “Update information on HIV/AIDS management is communicated internationally.”

* “An array of HIV preventive services available and accessible to substance abusers in treatment on the streets.”

* “A safe blood supply worldwide.”