At the International Conference on AIDS in Vancouver the leaders of th
e European Concerted Action on AIDS were commissioned to report on the
State of the Art and Future Priorities in Research on HIV infection a
nd AIDS. The report is addressed to the scientific community at large,
to the members of the Institutions of the European Union, and for con
sideration at the forthcoming preparation of the 5th Framework Program
me of the EC. In general, there is a realisation that the epidemic is
too complex a problem for any one country to solve, and the virus does
not recognise national boundaries. Furthermore, the severity of the e
pidemic in developing countries has been of great concern and an addit
ional reason in making AIDS a high priority for research among the EC
scientists. Basic and medical scientists have pooled their resources t
o work as single multi-national teams. A brief outline of the report o
f the eight working groups, covering the entire field of AIDS is prese
nted below.