[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 184 (Tuesday, December 4, 2007)]
[House]
[Page H14136]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             WORLD AIDS DAY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Davis) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Madam Speaker, I'm pleased to join with my 
colleagues as we take this time to highlight the gravity of the HIV/
AIDS pandemic and especially as it affects people of color throughout 
the world.
  The Centers for Disease Control, the CDC, reported that approximately 
1 million Americans were living with HIV/AIDS at the end of 2003, 
roughly 25 percent of whom were undiagnosed and unaware of their HIV 
infection.
  An article in the New York Times this week noted that new HIV/AIDS 
case estimates are actually 50 percent higher than health experts had 
previously believed.
  Furthermore, this infection has started to increase among children at 
a drastic rate. Through 2005, there have been an estimated 9,000 AIDS 
cases reported for children under the age of 13. HIV/AIDS is becoming a 
problem earlier and earlier for more and more Americans.
  It is very clear that HIV/AIDS is indeed an emergency situation, 
especially in the African American community. According to the CDC, 
African Americans make up 13 percent of the Nation's population, but 
account for 49 percent of the estimated AIDS cases diagnosed since the 
epidemic began.
  In addition, African American children make up approximately 63 
percent of the estimated HIV/AIDS cases through 2005.
  Not only are African Americans more likely to get AIDS; they're more 
likely to die from it, with more than half of all AIDS-related deaths 
being among African Americans.
  We must get behind the World AIDS Day slogan, ``Stop AIDS, keep the 
promise.'' We must increase funding for treatment and prevention, not 
reduce it by 91 percent, as this administration has done. We must 
invest in medical research and needle exchange programs, prevention and 
treatment. The more engaged we are and the stronger the determination 
we have, it will lead to the decrease in AIDS cases across the United 
States in all communities.
  Madam Speaker, I'm pleased that in Chicago, a coalition of 
organizations, the City of Chicago Department of Public Health, the 
Illinois Department of Public Health, Malcolm X College, the 7th 
District HIV/AIDS Task Force, Walgreens drug stores, Ora Sure 
technologies, Abbott Laboratories, the Let's Talk Let's Test 
Foundation, Working Togetherness and other organizations, held 2 days 
of high-profile activity where there were many sites where people could 
come and be tested free.
  And so I commend the City of Chicago's Department of Public Health, 
the State of Illinois Department of Public Health, and all of those 
hardworking groups and organizations who are working to try and put at 
least a dent in this problem.

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