[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 73 (Wednesday, May 14, 2014)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3043-S3044]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
COMMEMORATING AND SUPPORTING THE GOALS OF WORLD AIDS DAY
Mr. REID. I ask unanimous consent to proceed to Calendar No. 272, S.
Res. 314.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the resolution by title.
The bill clerk read as follows:
A resolution (S. Res. 314) commemorating and supporting the
goals of World AIDS Day.
There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the
resolution.
Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Coons
amendment to the resolution, which is at the desk, be agreed to; the
resolution, as amended, be agreed to; the Coons amendment to the
preamble be agreed to; the preamble, as amended, be agreed to; and the
motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with
no intervening action or debate.
The amendment (No. 3096) was agreed to, as follows:
On page 5, beginning on line 6, strike ``, as well as'' and
all that follows through ``AIDS'' on line 8.
The resolution (S. Res. 314), as amended, was agreed to.
The amendment to the preamble (No. 3097) was agreed to, as follows:
[[Page S3044]]
(Purpose: To amend the preamble)
Strike the second through fourth whereas clauses of the
preamble and insert the following:
Whereas the 2001 United Nations Declaration of Commitment
on HIV/AIDS Global mobilized global attention and commitment
to the HIV/AIDS epidemic and set out a series of national
targets and global actions to reverse the epidemic;
Whereas the 2011 United Nations General Assembly High Level
Meeting on AIDS addressed the progress of intensified efforts
to eliminate HIV and AIDS, including redoubling efforts to
achieve by 2015 universal access to HIV prevention,
treatment, care, and support, and to eliminate gender
inequalities and gender-based abuse and violence and increase
the capacity of women and adolescent girls to protect
themselves from the risk of HIV infection;
The preamble, as amended, was agreed to.
The resolution, as amended, with its preamble, as amended, reads as
follows:
S. Res. 314
Whereas an estimated 35,000,000 people are living with HIV/
AIDS in 2013;
Whereas the 2001 United Nations Declaration of Commitment
on HIV/AIDS Global mobilized global attention and commitment
to the HIV/AIDS epidemic and set out a series of national
targets and global actions to reverse the epidemic;
Whereas the 2011 United Nations General Assembly High Level
Meeting on AIDS addressed the progress of intensified efforts
to eliminate HIV and AIDS, including redoubling efforts to
achieve by 2015 universal access to HIV prevention,
treatment, care, and support, and to eliminate gender
inequalities and gender-based abuse and violence and increase
the capacity of women and adolescent girls to protect
themselves from the risk of HIV infection;
Whereas the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and
Malaria was launched in 2002 and, as of November 2013,
supported programs in more than 140 countries that provided
antiretroviral therapy to 6,100,000 people living with HIV/
AIDS and antiretrovirals to 2,100,000 pregnant women to
prevent transmission of HIV/AIDS to their babies;
Whereas the United States is the largest donor to the
Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria;
Whereas for every dollar contributed to the Global Fund to
Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria by the United States, an
additional $2 is leveraged from other donors;
Whereas the United States hosted the Global Fund's Fourth
Voluntary Replenishment Conference on December 2-3, 2013;
Whereas the United States President's Emergency Plan for
AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), introduced by President George W. Bush
in 2003, remains the largest commitment in history by any
nation to combat a single disease;
Whereas, as of the end of September 2012, PEPFAR supported
treatment for 5,100,000 people, up from 1,700,000 in 2008,
and in 2012, PEPFAR supported provision of antiretroviral
drugs to 750,000 pregnant women living with HIV to prevent
the transmission of HIV from mother to baby during birth;
Whereas PEPFAR directly supported HIV testing and
counseling for more than 46,500,000 people in fiscal year
2012;
Whereas considerable progress has been made in the fight
against HIV/AIDS, with total new HIV infections estimated at
2,300,000 in 2012, a 33-percent reduction since 2001; new HIV
infections among children reduced to 260,000 in 2012, a
reduction of 52 percent since 2001; and AIDS-related deaths
reduced to 1,600,000 in 2012, a 30-percent reduction since
2005;
Whereas increased access to antiretroviral drugs is the
major contributor to the reduction in deaths from HIV/AIDS,
and HIV treatment reinforces prevention because it reduces,
by up to 96 percent, the chance the virus can be spread;
Whereas the World Health Organization (WHO) has revised its
guidelines for determining whether HIV positive individuals
are eligible for treatment, thereby increasing the number of
individuals eligible for treatment from about 15,000,000 to
28,000,000;
Whereas 9,700,000 people in low- and middle-income
countries had access to antiretroviral therapy by the end of
2012, an increase of nearly 20 percent in a year;
Whereas an estimated 50 percent of those living with HIV do
not know their status, according to a 2012 UNAIDS report;
Whereas sub-Saharan Africa remains the epicenter of the
epidemic, accounting for 1,200,000 of the 1,600,000 deaths
from HIV/AIDS;
Whereas stigma, gender inequality, and lack of respect for
the rights of HIV positive individuals remain significant
barriers to access to services for those most at risk of HIV
infection;
Whereas President Barack Obama voiced commitment to
realizing the promise of an AIDS-free generation and his
belief that the goal was within reach in his February 2013
State of the Union Address;
Whereas the international community is united in pursuit of
achieving the goal of an AIDS-free generation by 2015;
Whereas international donor funding has held steady since
2008 and countries affected by the epidemic are increasingly
taking responsibility for funding and sustaining programs in
their countries, currently accounting for approximately 53
percent of global HIV/AIDS resources;
Whereas December 1 of each year is internationally
recognized as World AIDS Day; and
Whereas, in 2013, World AIDS Day commemorations focused on:
``[g]etting to zero: zero new HIV infections, zero
discrimination, zero AIDS-related deaths'': Now, therefore,
be it
Resolved, That the Senate--
(1) supports the goals and ideals of World AIDS Day,
including getting to zero through zero new HIV infections,
zero discrimination, and zero AIDS-related deaths;
(2) applauds the goals and approaches for achieving an
AIDS-free generation set forth in the PEPFAR Blueprint:
Creating an AIDS-free Generation;
(3) commends the dramatic progress in global AIDS programs
supported through the efforts of PEPFAR, the Global Fund to
Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, and UNAIDS;
(4) urges, in order to ensure that an AIDS-free generation
is within reach, rapid action towards--
(A) full implementation of the Global Plan Towards the
Elimination of New HIV Infections Among Children by 2015 and
Keeping Their Mothers Alive to build on progress made to
date; and
(B) further expansion and scale-up of antiretroviral
treatment programs, including efforts to reduce disparities
and improve access for children to life-saving medications;
(5) calls for scaling up treatment to reach all individuals
eligible for treatment under WHO guidelines;
(6) calls for greater focus on HIV/AIDS vulnerabilities of
women and girls, including more directed efforts to ensure
that they are connected to the information, care, and
treatment they require;
(7) supports efforts to ensure inclusive access to programs
and human rights protections for all those most at risk of
HIV/AIDS and hardest to reach;
(8) encourages additional private-public partnerships to
research and develop better and more affordable tools for the
diagnosis, treatment, vaccination, and cure of HIV;
(9) supports continued leadership by the United States in
bilateral, multilateral, and private sector efforts to fight
HIV;
(10) encourages and supports greater degrees of ownership
and shared responsibility by developing countries in order to
ensure sustainability of their domestic responses; and
(11) encourages other members of the international
community to sustain and scale up their support for and
financial contributions to efforts around the world to combat
HIV/AIDS.
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