[Federal Register Volume 59, Number 103 (Tuesday, May 31, 1994)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 27963-27964]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 94-13324]
[[Page Unknown]]
[Federal Register: May 31, 1994]
Presidential Documents
Federal Register
Vol. 59, No. 103
Tuesday, May 31, 1994
____________________________________________________________________
Title 3--
The President
Proclamation 6694 of May 25, 1994
Pediatric and Adolescent AIDS Awareness Week,
1994
By the President of the United States of America
A Proclamation
Ten thousand children in the United States today are
living with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Ten
million children worldwide will become infected with
HIV before the millennium. Over 5,000 cases of
pediatric AIDS and 1,500 cases of AIDS in adolescents
ages 13 through 19 have been reported in this country
alone. The tragedy is magnified for our youth, as the
epidemic reaches far beyond those actually infected--it
will leave up to 125,000 children and teenagers
orphaned in this country by the end of this decade. By
the year 2000, AIDS will be one of the five leading
causes of death among American children ages one to
four.
It is agonizing to watch our young suffer and die. It
is all the more painful because we have been frustrated
thus far in our efforts to find a cure. But we must not
give up hope nor stand by idly. With hard work, we will
find that cure. Moreover, HIV and AIDS are preventable.
Americans can stop AIDS with targeted, linguistically
specific, and culturally based prevention education for
people in all age groups. If we are to overcome the HIV
epidemic, communities must address difficult and
controversial issues surrounding sexuality, drug abuse,
and health care delivery.
The effects of infection by HIV are different in
children than in adults. Infected infants get sicker
faster, their immune systems may deteriorate more
rapidly, and treatments that are helpful to adults may
not be helpful for children.
It is imperative to continue the research now being
done to study ways to prevent transmission of HIV from
mother to infant. We must also develop and refine
treatments that increase the survival time and quality
of life of HIV-infected infants, children, and
adolescents.
As a people, we must see to it that those among us
living with HIV and AIDS are allowed to enjoy
productive lives for as long as possible. We must put
aside our differences and recognize the necessity of
working together to defeat our common enemy--HIV. I
challenge all Americans to join the fight. And we must
educate people about the true nature of HIV so that the
discrimination and fear born of ignorance and
translated into ostracism and discrimination can be
stopped.
Many communities across the country have already
realized the grave dangers posed to our society by HIV
and have responded by reaching out to battle the
disease. More people must become involved now, or many
more lives will be needlessly lost. This
Administration, through the Office of National AIDS
Policy and its Cabinet agencies, has joined with
community-based AIDS organizations, families,
businesses, professional associations, churches,
schools, and universities to fight HIV and AIDS. Early
intervention and educational resources must be made
available, especially to youth and other high-risk
groups. One in five of all reported AIDS cases is
diagnosed in the 20-29 year old age group, meaning that
these people were adolescents when they became
infected.
The single most important step taken by my
Administration in the fight against HIV and AIDS is the
introduction to the Congress of the Health Security Act
of 1993. All people living with HIV and AIDS,
especially our children, must often fight not only the
disease, but also a health care system likely to deny
them coverage in their moment of greatest need. This
Administration is absolutely committed to ensuring
every American adequate health care coverage that will
never be taken away. To do any less in a nation as
resourceful as ours would be unacceptable.
Remembering that every person living with HIV and AIDS
is someone's child, we must work together tirelessly to
find a cure. We must distribute our human and financial
resources across the Nation to strengthen and expand
programs for HIV and AIDS education, treatment,
research, and prevention.
We can stop the terrible harvest of children and
adolescents wrought by HIV and AIDS. Working together
we have the power to stop this plague.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, WILLIAM J. CLINTON, President of the
United States of America, by virtue of the authority
vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United
States, do hereby proclaim the week of May 29 through
June 4, 1994, as Pediatric and Adolescent AIDS
Awareness Week. I call on the people of America, the
Governors of the 50 States and the Commonwealth of
Puerto Rico, the Mayor of the District of Columbia, and
officials of other areas under the flag of the United
States of America, to join with me in the continuing
fight against HIV and AIDS and to remember especially
during this week children and young people living with
HIV and AIDS and their families.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
twenty-fifth day of May, in the year of our Lord
nineteen hundred and ninety-four, and of the
Independence of the United States of America the two
hundred and eighteenth.
(Presidential Sig.)>
[FR Doc. 94-13324
Filed 5-26-94; 2:40 pm]
Billing code 3195-01-P