[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 150 (Wednesday, December 10, 2014)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6542-S6543]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




SENATE RESOLUTION 597--COMMEMORATING AND SUPPORTING THE GOALS OF WORLD 
                                AIDS DAY

  Mr. COONS (for himself and Mrs. Shaheen) submitted the following 
resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations:

                              S. Res. 597

       Whereas an estimated 35,000,000 people were living with 
     HIV/AIDS as of the end of 2013;
       Whereas the United Nations Millennium Development Goals 
     established a global target of halting and beginning to 
     reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS by 2015;
       Whereas the 2001 United Nations Declaration of Commitment 
     on HIV/AIDS 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 Political Declaration on 
     HIV and AIDS provided an updated framework for 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 6,600,000 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 President's Emergency Plan for 
     AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) initiative was proposed by President 
     George W. Bush and passed Congress on a bipartisan vote in 
     2003, and remains the largest commitment in history by any 
     nation to combat a single disease;
       Whereas, as of the end of September 2014, PEPFAR supported 
     treatment for 7,700,000 people, up from 1,700,000 in 2008, 
     and in 2012, PEPFAR supported the provision of antiretroviral 
     drugs to 750,000 pregnant women living with HIV to prevent 
     the transmission of HIV from mother to child during birth;
       Whereas PEPFAR directly supported HIV testing and 
     counseling for more than 56,700,000 people in fiscal year 
     2014;
       Whereas considerable progress has been made in the fight 
     against HIV/AIDS, with the number of new HIV infections 
     estimated at 2,100,000 in 2013, a 38 percent reduction since 
     2001, new HIV infections among children reduced to 240,000 in 
     2013, a reduction of 58 percent since 2001, and AIDS-related 
     deaths reduced to 1,500,000 in 2013, a 35 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 15,900,000 to 
     28,600,000;
       Whereas 13,600,000 people in low- and middle-income 
     countries had access to antiretroviral therapy as of June 
     2014;
       Whereas 19,000,000 of the 35,000,000 people living with HIV 
     globally do not know their status, according to a 2014 UNAIDS 
     report;
       Whereas, although sub-Saharan Africa remains the epicenter 
     of the epidemic with approximately 1,100,000 AIDS-related 
     deaths in 2013, there have also been successes, with an 
     approximate 33 percent decline in new HIV infections from 
     2005 to 2013 and a 39 percent decrease in the number of AIDS-
     related deaths in sub-Saharan Africa between 2005 and 2013;
       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

[[Page S6543]]

     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;
       Whereas a UNAIDS 2014 report on the state of the global 
     epidemic assessed that AIDS could be ended as a public health 
     threat by 2030 if a fast-track response is taken and certain 
     targets are realized by 2020, and further noted that doing so 
     would avert nearly 28,000,000 new HIV infections and 
     21,000,000 AIDS-related deaths by 2030;
       Whereas, during the Ebola Virus Disease outbreak of 2014, 
     countries with PEPFAR-strengthened lab capacity, human 
     capacity, and health facility capacity were able to contain 
     Ebola outbreaks;
       Whereas, in August 2014, PEPFAR and the Children's 
     Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF) launched an initiative to 
     double the total number of children receiving treatment over 
     the next two years in ten countries;
       Whereas December 1 of each year is internationally 
     recognized as World AIDS Day; and
       Whereas, in 2014, the theme for World AIDS Day 
     commemorations was ``Focus, Partner, Achieve: An AIDS-free 
     Generation'': Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Senate--
       (1) supports the goals and ideals of World AIDS Day, 
     including seeking to get to 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, as well as the targets set 
     by United Nations member states in the 2011 United Nations 
     Political Declaration on HIV and AIDS;
       (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 by all nations 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 
     such as getting antiretroviral HIV medication to the 
     2,000,000 children with HIV currently unable to access them;
       (5) calls for scaling up treatment to reach all individuals 
     eligible for treatment under WHO guidelines;
       (6) calls for greater focus on the HIV-related 
     vulnerabilities of women and girls, including those at risk 
     for or who have survived violence or faced discrimination as 
     a result of the disease, and urges more directed efforts to 
     ensure that they are connected to the information, care, 
     support, and treatment they require;
       (7) supports efforts to ensure inclusive access to programs 
     and appropriate 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) stresses the importance of ensuring that HIV and AIDS 
     are central to the post-2015 United Nations development 
     agenda and of advocating for the inclusion of targets under 
     relevant goals towards achieving zero new HIV infections, 
     zero discrimination, and zero AIDS-related deaths;
       (11) encourages and supports greater degrees of ownership 
     and shared responsibility by developing countries in order to 
     ensure sustainability of their domestic responses; and
       (12) 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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