Whereas there are currently 33,400,000 people living with
HIV/AIDS worldwide and more than 25,000,000 have died of AIDS since the first
cases were reported in 1981;
Whereas in the United States, approximately 1,100,000
people are living with HIV/AIDS and someone is newly infected with HIV every
9.5 minutes;
Whereas one in five individuals living with HIV is unaware
of their infection, and significant disparities persist across different
communities and populations with regard to incidence, access to treatment, and
health outcomes;
Whereas the United States is heavily engaged in both
international and domestic efforts to address the HIV/AIDS epidemic, including
the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the Global Fund to
Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis (TB), and Malaria, the Ryan White Comprehensive AIDS
Resources Emergency (CARE) Act, the AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP), the
Housing Opportunities for People With AIDS (HOPWA) Program, and AIDS research
at the National Institutes of Health (NIH);
Whereas the biennial IAS Conference on HIV Pathogenesis,
Treatment, and Prevention is the world’s largest open scientific conference on
HIV/AIDS, attracting about 5,000 delegates from around the world;
Whereas together with the International AIDS Conference,
which will next be held in Washington, DC, from July 22, 2012, through July 27,
2012, it provides the world’s leading scientists, clinicians, policymakers, and
community leaders with a unique opportunity to examine the latest developments
in HIV research and how scientific advances can practically guide the national
and global response to HIV/AIDS;
Whereas IAS 2011 takes place from July 17, 2011, through
July 20, 2011, in Rome, Italy, organized by the International AIDS Society in
partnership with the Istituto Superiore di Sanità (ISS), the leading technical
and scientific body of the Italian National Health Service;
Whereas this year’s conference is of particular importance
given the first documented case of a patient being cured of HIV infection and
global resurgence of tuberculosis (TB), including multidrug-resistant
tuberculosis (MDR–TB) and extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis
(XDR–TB);
Whereas known as the “Berlin Patient”, Timothy Ray Brown’s
remarkable story appeared in the December 8, 2010, article entitled, “Evidence
for the cure of HIV infection by CCR5Δ32/Δ32 stem cell transplantation”, in the
scientific journal Blood;
Whereas according to the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC), TB is the leading cause of death among persons with HIV
worldwide and XDR–TB is resistant to the most powerful first-line and
second-line drugs;
Whereas the improper treatment of TB in HIV-infected
individuals perpetuates the spread of this infectious disease as well as
bolsters drug resistance, which poses a tremendous threat to public health in
the United States and abroad;
Whereas improved efforts to prevent and treat TB among
people living with HIV, including the development of new, transformational
antibiotic drugs, can save millions of lives;
Whereas several organizations, including small business
biotechnology companies, developing therapeutic vaccines and other immune-based
therapies are presenting updates on their clinical research at IAS 2011;
Whereas the National Association of People With AIDS
(NAPWA) and Health People, the first community-based organization for women
infected with HIV in the United States, are hosting the NAPWA “Treatment
Horizons: Pathways to a Functional Cure” satellite symposium, which is
officially affiliated with IAS 2011; and
Whereas therapeutic vaccine candidates and immune-based
therapies such as those being presented at IAS 2011 may lead to a “functional
cure” for HIV/AIDS: Now, therefore, be it
That the House of
Representatives—
(1)supports the sixth IAS Conference on HIV
Pathogenesis, Treatment, and Prevention;
(2)recognizes that
continued commitment by the United States to HIV/AIDS research, prevention, and
treatment programs is crucial to protecting global health;
(3)seeks to prevent the transmission of HIV,
as well as tuberculosis (TB), multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR–TB), and
extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR–TB), and improve health outcomes
in people living with HIV/AIDS;
(4)commits to helping
support a strong global response to HIV/AIDS, protect the rights of those
infected, and increase access to testing, treatment, and care;
(5)encourages the
ongoing development of innovative therapies and advances in clinical treatment
for HIV/AIDS, especially by small business biotechnology firms, and new,
transformational antibiotic drugs to treat infectious diseases such as TB,
MDR–TB, and XDR–TB; and
(6)urges scientists,
health care providers, policymakers, community leaders, and all individuals
committed to ending the HIV/AIDS pandemic to attend the XIX International AIDS
Conference (AIDS 2012).