[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 281 Introduced in House (IH)]

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118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 281

Supporting the goals and ideals of ``National Youth HIV/AIDS Awareness 
                                 Day''.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 6, 2023

    Ms. Lee of California (for herself, Mr. Payne, Ms. Jacobs, Ms. 
Barragan, Ms. Chu, Mr. Davis of Illinois, Ms. Williams of Georgia, Mrs. 
 Hayes, Mr. Evans, and Ms. Sewell) submitted the following resolution; 
       which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
Supporting the goals and ideals of ``National Youth HIV/AIDS Awareness 
                                 Day''.

Whereas ``National Youth HIV/AIDS Awareness Day'' is a nationwide observance 
        that calls on people to take action to invest in the health, education, 
        and leadership of young people;
Whereas, more than 40 years into the epidemic, the Centers for Disease Control 
        and Prevention estimates that in the United States more than 1,189,700 
        people are living with HIV, and 30,635 people were diagnosed with HIV in 
        the United States in 2020;
Whereas, in 2020, youth aged 13 to 24 years composed 20 percent of all new HIV 
        diagnoses in the United States;
Whereas young people living with HIV are the least likely of any age group to be 
        retained in care and have a suppressed viral load;
Whereas 56 percent of young people living with HIV ages 13 to 24 are unaware of 
        their HIV status;
Whereas African-American youth are most impacted by the epidemic, representing 
        54 percent of new transmissions in young people ages 13 to 24;
Whereas young African-American gay and bisexual men are even more severely 
        affected, representing 53 percent (2,740) of new HIV diagnoses among 
        young gay and bisexual men;
Whereas young gay and bisexual men accounted for 84 percent (5,161) of all new 
        HIV diagnoses in people aged 13 to 24 in 2020;
Whereas the National HIV/AIDS Strategy expands the fact that youth experience 
        worse HIV outcomes on status awareness, pre-exposure prophylaxis uptake, 
        and health outcomes;
Whereas the National HIV/AIDS Strategy recommends children and young adults with 
        HIV need tailored and often more intensive medical and support services 
        to support them as they grow and become young adults;
Whereas the Division of Adolescent and School Health is the only Federal program 
        supporting HIV prevention for adolescents in schools;
Whereas the Nation's largest Federal program dedicated to providing care and 
        treatment for people living with HIV was named after Ryan White, a 
        teenager from Indiana who helped educate a Nation about HIV and AIDS in 
        the 1980s;
Whereas the Ryan White Part D Program is one of the national efforts to link 
        young people living with HIV to medical care and support services;
Whereas the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act provides youth, including 
        those living with or impacted by HIV and AIDS, better access to health 
        care coverage, more health insurance options, additional funding for sex 
        education, a prohibition against denying people living with HIV access 
        to health care, and expanded access to Medicaid which will support more 
        young people living with HIV receiving care; and
Whereas April 10 of each year is now recognized as ``National Youth HIV/AIDS 
        Awareness Day'': Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
            (1) supports the goals and ideals of ``National Youth HIV/
        AIDS Awareness Day'';
            (2) encourages State and local governments, including their 
        public health agencies, education agencies, schools, and media 
        organizations to recognize and support such a day;
            (3) supports young people's right to education, prevention, 
        treatment, and care, and to live without criminalization, 
        discrimination, oppression, and stigma;
            (4) promotes up-to-date, inclusive, culturally responsible, 
        and medically accurate information about HIV, such as pre-
        exposure prophylaxis PreP, in sex education curricula to ensure 
        that all young people are educated about HIV, as called for in 
        the National HIV/AIDS Strategy;
            (5) supports removal of HIV laws that are scientifically 
        inaccurate and unfairly criminalize young people living with 
        HIV for behaviors that are consensual or have no risk of 
        transmission;
            (6) urges youth-friendly and accessible health care 
        services, especially access to medications such as pre-exposure 
        prophylaxis, post-exposure prophylaxis, and antiretroviral 
        therapy without parental consent, to better provide for the 
        early identification of HIV through voluntary routine testing, 
        and to connect those in need to clinically and culturally 
        appropriate care and treatment as early as possible;
            (7) supports the increase of funding for programs that 
        support people impacted by and living with HIV, including the 
        Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Division of 
        Adolescent and School Health, the Division of STD Prevention, 
        and the Division of HIV Prevention, the Ryan White HIV/AIDS 
        Program, the Medicaid program, AIDS Drug Assistance Programs, 
        and programs that support medical mentorship, peer navigation, 
        educating communities on testing and treatment options, and 
        people accessing PrEP, and ensure a smoother transition to 
        adult HIV care;
            (8) recommends a comprehensive prevention and treatment 
        strategy that empowers young people, parents, public health 
        workers, educators, faith leaders, and other stakeholders to 
        fully engage with their communities and families to help 
        decrease violence, discrimination, and stigma toward 
        individuals who disclose their sexual orientation or HIV 
        status;
            (9) calls for a generation free of HIV stigma in a manner 
        that prioritizes youth leadership and development in order to 
        ensure youth involvement in decisions which impact their health 
        and well-being as well as advance a pipeline for the next 
        generation of HIV and AIDS doctors, advocates, educators, 
        researchers, and other professionals; and
            (10) recognizes the direct impact from harmful legislative 
        efforts seeking to restrict bodily autonomy for young people, 
        such as restrictions on abortion and birth control access and 
        bans on transgender health care, which negatively impact youth 
        access to nonstigmatizing HIV prevention, education, 
        confidential testing and treatment, and increases risk for 
        criminalization.
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