Whereas the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS
(UNAIDS) estimates that since the identification of AIDS in 1981, more than
60,000,000 people have been infected with HIV, and nearly 30,000,000 people
have died of AIDS worldwide;
Whereas in 2009, UNAIDS estimated that 33,300,000 people
were living with HIV around the world, 1,800,000 people died of AIDS-related
illnesses, and another 2,600,000 people were newly infected;
Whereas 260,000 children under the age of 15 died from
AIDS in 2009, while 2,500,000 children were living with HIV, 90 percent of whom
reside in Sub-Saharan Africa;
Whereas each day over 1,000 children under the age of 15
become newly infected with HIV, and worldwide 53 percent of pregnant women in
low and middle income countries receive services to prevent HIV transmission to
their newborns;
Whereas the proportion of women living with HIV has
remained stable at slightly less than 52 percent of the global total;
Whereas developing countries continue to bear the brunt of
the AIDS pandemic with Sub-Saharan Africa accounting for 68 percent of all
adults and children living with HIV, 60 percent of whom are women and
girls;
Whereas people living with HIV/AIDS are frequently
susceptible to other opportunistic infections, and according to the World
Health Organization, in 2008 approximately 1,400,000 people living with HIV
were also estimated to be co-infected with tuberculosis;
Whereas the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
(CDC) estimates that in the United States, more than 1,100,000 people are
living with HIV, and 21 percent do not know they are infected;
Whereas a total of 597,499 people have died of AIDS in the
United States from the beginning of the HIV/AIDS epidemic through 2007;
Whereas each year 56,300 people become newly infected with
HIV in the United States, and on average, an individual is infected with HIV
every 9½ minutes;
Whereas at the end of 2007, African-Americans represented
48 percent of all people living with HIV in the United States, Whites
represented 33 percent, Hispanics represented 17 percent, Asian-Americans and
Pacific Islanders represented 1 percent, and American Indians and Alaska
Natives represented less than 1 percent;
Whereas men who have sex with men (MSM), particularly
young MSM of color, have represented an increasing share of new HIV infections
over the past decade and in 2008 MSM accounted for 54 percent of all new
infections;
Whereas men account for 73 percent of all people living
with HIV in the United States, and women represent 27 percent;
Whereas in the United States, African-American women are
18 times more likely to become newly infected with HIV than White women, and
Hispanic women are 5 times more likely to have AIDS than non-Hispanic White
women;
Whereas 5,259 young people aged 13 to 24 were newly
diagnosed with HIV/AIDS in 2006, representing about 14 percent of all new
diagnoses in the United States during that year;
Whereas in the United States as of November 2010,
approximately 4,157 people across 9 States have been placed on waiting lists to
receive AIDS treatment through the AIDS Drug Assistance Program authorized
through the Ryan White CARE Act;
Whereas in order to address the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the
United States, the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Treatment Extension Act of 2009 was
enacted into law on October 30, 2009, reauthorizing Federal HIV/AIDS care and
treatment programs for 4 years and making funding available to United States
metropolitan areas, States, and service providers to assist affected families
and persons living with HIV/AIDS with healthcare and support services;
Whereas to further focus attention on the HIV/AIDS
epidemic among minority communities in the United States, in 1998, Congress and
the Clinton Administration created the Minority AIDS Initiative to provide
funds to State and local institutions and organizations to best serve the
healthcare costs and support the needs of racial and ethnic minorities living
with HIV/AIDS;
Whereas Congress provided $1,400,000 for the Office of
National AIDS Policy (ONAP) within the White House in the FY2009 Omnibus
Appropriations Act and the FY2010 Omnibus Appropriations Act in order to
develop a National AIDS Strategy to better coordinate and guide the Nation’s
response to HIV/AIDS;
Whereas ONAP conducted a series of town halls across the
country to solicit feedback directly from communities impacted by HIV/AIDS in
order to provide a basis for developing a National AIDS Strategy;
Whereas, on July 13, 2010, ONAP released the “National
AIDS Strategy for the United States” along with an accompanying “Federal
Implementation Plan” to achieve the goals of reducing new HIV infections,
increasing access to care and improving health outcomes for people living with
HIV, reducing HIV-related disparities and health inequities, and achieving a
more coordinated national response to the HIV epidemic;
Whereas, on April 7, 2009, the CDC launched a new
communication campaign, “Act Against AIDS”, to facilitate awareness, public
education, health literacy, health care provider marketing, and highly targeted
behavior change communication objectives in the fight against HIV/AIDS;
Whereas to address the global HIV/AIDS epidemic, in 2000,
Congress passed the Global AIDS and Tuberculosis Relief Act, providing the
first contribution and the founding framework for what became the Global Fund
to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria, which provides grants to developing
countries to combat the 3 diseases;
Whereas since the Global Fund was created in 2002, donors
have pledged more than $30,000,000,000 in funding, including $9,547,000,000 by
the United States, of which more than $5,130,000,000 has already been
donated;
Whereas as of December 2010, the Global Fund has supported
treatment to over 3,000,000 people for HIV/AIDS, directly observed treatment to
7,700,000 people for tuberculosis, and over 160,000,000 insecticide
treated-bednets to fight malaria, saving an estimated 6,500,000 lives;
Whereas in order to further address the global HIV/AIDS
epidemic, in 2008, Congress reauthorized the President's Emergency Plan for
AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) through the Tom Lantos and Henry J. Hyde United States
Global Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria Reauthorization
Act, authorizing $48,000,000,000 over 5 years to combat the 3 diseases;
Whereas, between fiscal years 2009 and 2013, PEPFAR
programs aim to support care for 12,000,000 HIV-affected people, including
children orphaned by AIDS, support the prevention of 12,000,000 new HIV
infections; and help at least 4,000,000 people receive antiretroviral
treatment;
Whereas, as of September 30, 2010, PEPFAR had supported
the treatment of 3,200,000 people and in FY2010 alone supported the prevention
of mother-to-child HIV transmission for more than 600,000 HIV-positive pregnant
women, allowing more than 114,000 infants to be born HIV-free, while directly
supporting care for 11,000,000 people, including 3,800,000 orphans and
vulnerable children;
Whereas, between 2004 and 2010, Congress provided
approximately $31,385,000,000 to combat global HIV/AIDS through PEPFAR and the
Global Fund;
Whereas as a result of these and other efforts, the rate
of new HIV infections has declined by 19 percent since 1999 and the number of
AIDS-related deaths has declined by 19 percent between 2004 and 2009, due in
part to the expansion of HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment programs;
Whereas since the availability of effective HIV/AIDS
treatments and the increasing availability of treatments to prevent mother to
child transmission of HIV, approximately 5,200,000 people are currently
receiving antiretroviral therapy, an increase of 30 percent since 2008, and the
number of children infected with HIV through mother to child transmission has
been reduced by 24 percent since 2004;
Whereas in 2001, representatives and heads of state of 189
countries, including the United States, convened at the first-ever Special
Session of the United Nations General Assembly on HIV/AIDS and unanimously
adopted the Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS;
Whereas the United Nations Declaration of Commitment
outlines prevention, treatment, and funding methods for achieving the
Millennium Development Goal of halting and beginning to reverse the spread of
HIV/AIDS by 2015;
Whereas in 2006, the United Nations General Assembly
convened a High Level Meeting on AIDS, pledging to move toward the goal of
universal access to comprehensive prevention programs, treatment, care, and
support by 2010;
Whereas in 2008, the United Nations General Assembly
convened a second High Level Meeting on AIDS to review progress towards
achieving the goal of universal access and the Declaration of Commitment on
HIV/AIDS;
Whereas the concept of World AIDS Day originated at the
1988 World Summit of Ministers of Health on Programmes for AIDS Prevention and
was established to focus attention on the HIV/AIDS pandemic;
Whereas December 1 is now recognized as World AIDS Day and
has been taken up by governments, international organizations, and charities
around the world; and
Whereas the theme of World AIDS Day 2010 is “Universal
Access and Human Rights” and is intended to focus attention on the goal of
providing universal access to HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment, care, and support
programs and the fundamental need to support and protect human rights for all
people, particularly vulnerable and marginalized populations, in order to
achieve this goal: Now, therefore, be it
That Congress—
(1)supports the goals and ideals of World AIDS
Day and recognizes the 22nd anniversary of observing this day;
(2)commends the
President, State, and local governments, including their public health
agencies, for recognizing this day, for publicizing its importance among their
communities, and for encouraging individuals to undergo testing for HIV;
(3)commends national,
State, and local media organizations for carrying messages in support of World
AIDS Day;
(4)commends the work of AIDS service
organizations and community and faith based organizations that are providing
effective, evidence based, prevention, treatment, care, and support services to
people living with and vulnerable to HIV/AIDS;
(5)supports continued
funding for prevention, care, treatment services, and research programs for
persons living with HIV/AIDS in the United States including, through the Ryan
White HIV/AIDS Treatment Extension Act, the Minority HIV/AIDS Initiative, the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institutes of Health,
the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, the Office of
Minority Health, and the Office of the Secretary of Health and Human Services;
(6)supports the implementation of the National
AIDS Strategy and its goals to reduce new HIV infections, increase access to
care and improve health outcomes for people living with HIV, reduce HIV-related
disparities and health inequities, and achieve a more coordinated national
response to the HIV epidemic;
(7)supports continued
funding for the President's Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief and the Global Fund
to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria to provide prevention, care, and
treatment to combat HIV/AIDS in developing countries;
(8)supports the goal
of providing universal access to comprehensive HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment,
care, and support programs;
(9)supports the goal
of protecting human rights for all people, including vulnerable and
marginalized populations such as men who have sex with men, injecting drug
users, and sex workers; and
(10)supports efforts
to address the factors that make populations vulnerable to HIV/AIDS by
decreasing poverty and hunger, expanding educational opportunities for
children, and empowering women.