[Congressional Bills 103th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Con. Res. 288 Introduced in House (IH)]

103d CONGRESS
  2d Session
H. CON. RES. 288

Expressing the sense of the Congress with respect to children infected 
                         with AIDS in Romania.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            August 19, 1994

 Mr. Gilman (for himself, Mr. Gejdenson, Mr. Goodling, Mr. Lantos, Mr. 
Leach, Mr. Ackerman, Mr. Hyde, Mr. Engel, Mr. Smith of New Jersey, Mr. 
  Faleomavaega, Mrs. Meyers of Kansas, Mr. Borski, Mr. Gallegly, Mr. 
     Andrews of New Jersey, Mr. Ballenger, Mr. Brown of Ohio, Mr. 
Rohrabacher, Ms. McKinney, Mr. Levy, Mr. Hastings, Mr. Diaz-Balart, Mr. 
    Fingerhut, Mr. Royce, Mr. Deutsch, Mr. Wolf, Mr. Wynn, and Mr. 
  Gutierrez) submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was 
              referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                         CONCURRENT RESOLUTION


 
Expressing the sense of the Congress with respect to children infected 
                         with AIDS in Romania.

Whereas prior to 1989, the former communist government of Romania denied the 
        widespread existence of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) that 
        causes acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS);
Whereas prior to 1989, the communist government of Romania promoted medical 
        practices that led unwittingly to the injection of HIV-infected blood 
        into otherwise healthy children;
Whereas after Romania began to address the reality of the problem of AIDS, it 
        was found that by 1993, 89 percent of all cases of HIV infection in 
        Romania involved children, which is the highest such rate in Europe, 
        with most such cases being in the port city of Constanta;
Whereas with the assistance of the United States Agency for International 
        Development and under the coordination of the United Nations Children's 
        Fund, American private voluntary organizations have joined private 
        voluntary organizations of other nations in working to alleviate the 
        suffering of Romanian children infected with the AIDS virus, primarily 
        in the Constanta region, by providing for these children a ``homelike'' 
        atmosphere, proper nutrition, proper hygiene, foster parenting, and 
        parent counseling; and
Whereas reliable statistics with respect to the AIDS situation in Romania are no 
        longer available because the Romanian Ministry of Health has disbanded 
        its HIV/AIDS unit: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), 
That the Congress--
            (1) commends the work of those private voluntary 
        organizations from the United States and other countries who, 
        with the help of the United States Agency for International 
        Development and other assistance organizations, have made life 
        more bearable for Romanian children infected with the AIDS 
        virus;
            (2) calls for the continuation of current measures to 
        assist children infected with the AIDS virus in the Constanta 
        region of Romania and elsewhere, and for the implementation by 
        the Government of Romania or its designee of a nationwide AIDS-
        awareness campaign to lessen the possibility of the spread of 
        infection to additional children and other members of the 
        population in Romania;
            (3) urges the United States Agency for International 
        Development to use its authority under the Support for East 
        European Democracy (SEED) Act of 1989 to provide assistance for 
        the extension of AIDS treatment programs to other areas of 
        Romania where children infected with the AIDS virus have 
        similar needs;
            (4) calls on the United States Agency for International 
        Development to report to the Committee on Foreign Affairs of 
        the House of Representatives and the Committee on Foreign 
        Relations of the Senate on--
                    (A) the extent of HIV infection among children in 
                Romania, and
                    (B) efforts to provide assistance to address this 
                problem and to prevent further infection among both 
                children and adults;
            (5) calls on the Government of Romania to provide all 
        appropriate assistance to address the AIDS problem, in 
        particular statistical and other analyses on the spread of 
        infection by the AIDS virus; and
            (6) calls on the United States Agency for International 
        Development to offer assistance to the Romanian Ministry of 
        Health in the collection and analysis of relevant statistics 
        with respect to AIDS.
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