[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 38 (Friday, March 21, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E551]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                COMPREHENSIVE HIV PREVENTION ACT OF 1997

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. CONSTANCE A. MORELLA

                              of maryland

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, March 20, 1997

  Mrs. MORELLA. Mr. Speaker, today I am introducing legislation, along 
with Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi and more than 100 of our colleagues, to 
provide a comprehensive approach to HIV prevention.
  Our country faces 40,000 new HIV infections each year. The HIV 
epidemic is leaving no population untouched, and it is spreading 
particularly rapidly among our young people, women, and people of 
color. Women are the fastest growing group of people with HIV; AIDS is 
the third leading cause of death in women ages 25 to 44. Low-income 
women and women of color are being hit the hardest by this epidemic. 
African-American and Latina women represent 75 percent of all U.S. 
women diagnosed with AIDS.
  Our bill authorizes funding for family planning providers, community 
health centers, substance abuse treatment programs, and other providers 
who already serve low-income women, to provide community-based HIV 
programs. These provisions were part of my women and AIDS prevention 
bill from the last Congress. Our bill also creates a new program to 
address concerns about HIV for rape victims.
  The legislation also authorizes programs to build on the HIV 
Prevention Community Planning Process implemented by the Centers for 
Disease Control and Prevention in 1994. Similar provisions were 
included in previous legislation introduced by Congresswoman Pelosi, 
who worked to reform the CDC prevention programs and to develop the 
community planning process. This process has ensured that States and 
local health departments, in partnership with community planning 
groups, make the decisions on how best to target their prevention 
dollars. The epidemic varies from State to State, and from locality to 
locality. What works best to prevent HIV infections in San Francisco 
may not be what is most effective in Baltimore. This local approach is 
consistent with efforts to place decisionmaking in the hands of states 
and localities, rather than pursuing a one-size-fits-all solution.
  In my work focusing on the needs of women in the HIV epidemic, the 
effectiveness of community-based prevention programs has been 
demonstrated time and time again. Providers with a history of service 
to women's communities understand that prevention efforts must 
acknowledge and respond to the issues of low self-esteem, economic 
dependency, fear of domestic violence, and other factors which are 
barriers to empowering women.
  Our bill is a comprehensive approach to HIV prevention. I urge my 
colleagues to join us as cosponsors of this important legislation.

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