[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 108 (Wednesday, July 18, 2012)]
[House]
[Page H4916]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     INTERNATIONAL AIDS CONFERENCE

  (Mr. CICILLINE asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute.)
  Mr. CICILLINE. Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize the 
International AIDS Conference that will bring 25,000 men and women to 
Washington, D.C., next week.
  As a country, we've made incredible strides in the three decades 
since the first cases of HIV/AIDS were identified in the United States.
  In the 1980s, after Ryan White, a teenager living in Indiana, 
acquired the disease through a blood transfusion, his family had to 
fight their local school board that feared he might infect his 
classmates simply by showing up for school.
  Today, men, women, and children with HIV are living longer, more 
fulfilling lives due to advances in treatment and a better 
understanding of the disease. And just this week, the FDA approved the 
first pill designed to help prevent healthy people from acquiring the 
virus.
  But even today, HIV/AIDS is still an epidemic that primarily afflicts 
our poorest and most vulnerable citizens across the world and even here 
in the United States. We must continue to work with advocates like 
those attending next week's conference so that one day we can finally 
eradicate HIV/AIDS.
  In Rhode Island, EpiVax, under the leadership of Dr. Annie DeGroot, 
is working to develop a globally accessible vaccine, and I wish them 
great success in their important work.

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