[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 233 (Friday, December 4, 1998)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 66977-66978]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-32461]


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                         Presidential Documents 
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  Federal Register / Vol. 63, No. 233 / Friday, December 4, 1998 / 
Presidential Documents  

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 Title 3--
 The President

[[Page 66977]]

                Proclamation 7153 of December 1, 1998

                
World AIDS Day, 1998

                By the President of the United States of America

                A Proclamation

                On World AIDS Day, we are heartened by the knowledge 
                that our unprecedented investments in AIDS research 
                have resulted in new treatments that are prolonging the 
                lives of many people living with the disease. Thousands 
                of scientists, health care professionals, and patients 
                themselves have joined together to advance our 
                understanding of HIV and AIDS and improve treatment 
                options. Because of the heroic efforts of these people, 
                fewer and fewer Americans are losing their lives to 
                AIDS, and for that we are immensely thankful.

                But the AIDS epidemic is far from over. Within racial 
                and ethnic minority communities, HIV and AIDS are a 
                severe and ongoing crisis. While the number of deaths 
                in our country attributed to AIDS has declined for 2 
                consecutive years, AIDS remains the leading killer of 
                African American men aged 25-44 and the second leading 
                killer of African American women in the same age group. 
                African Americans, who comprise only 13 percent of the 
                U.S. population, accounted for 43 percent of new AIDS 
                cases in 1997 and 36 percent of all AIDS cases. 
                Hispanic Americans represent just 10 percent of our 
                population, but they account for more than 20 percent 
                of new AIDS cases; and AIDS is also becoming a critical 
                concern to Native American and Asian American 
                communities. Young people of every racial and ethnic 
                community are also disproportionately impacted by AIDS, 
                both in the number of new AIDS cases and in the number 
                of new HIV infections. In fact, the Centers for Disease 
                Control and Prevention estimate that approximately half 
                of all new HIV infections in the United States occur in 
                people under age 25 and that one-quarter occur in 
                people under age 22.

                Across the world, the situation is even more grim. As 
                with other epidemics before it, AIDS hits hardest in 
                areas where knowledge about the disease is scarce and 
                poverty is high. Of the nearly 6 million people newly 
                infected with HIV each year, more than 90 percent live 
                in the poorest nations of the world.Entire communities 
                are threatened by this epidemic, and the growing number 
                of children who will lose parents to AIDS will have a 
                devastating impact on these societies. By the year 
                2010, there may be as many as 40 million children who 
                will have been orphaned by AIDS, and developing nations 
                will have to struggle to deal with the overwhelming 
                needs of a generation of young people left without 
                parents.

                This year's World AIDS Day theme, ``Be A Force For 
                Change,'' is a reminder that each of us has a role to 
                play in bringing the AIDS epidemic to an end. Our 
                response must be comprehensive and ongoing. It must 
                also be a collaborative one, bringing together 
                governments and communities in a shared effort to 
                expand prevention efforts, raise awareness among young 
                people of the risks of HIV infection and how to avoid 
                it, increase access to lifesaving therapies, and ensure 
                that those who are living with HIV and AIDS receive the 
                care and services they need.

[[Page 66978]]

                Developing a vaccine for HIV is perhaps our best hope 
                of eradicating this terrible disease and stemming the 
                tide of pain and desolation it has wrought. The global 
                community has joined together in making the development 
                of an HIV vaccine a top international priority. Within 
                the next decade, we hope to have the means to stop this 
                deadly virus, but until we reach that day we must 
                remain strong in our crusade to prevent the spread of 
                HIV and AIDS and to care for those living with the 
                disease. In this way we can best honor the memory of 
                the many loved ones we have lost to AIDS.

                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 December 1, 1998, as World 
                AIDS Day. I invite the Governors of the States, the 
                Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, officials of the other 
                territories subject to the jurisdiction of the United 
                States, and the American people to join me in 
                reaffirming our commitment to defeating HIV and AIDS. I 
                encourage every American to participate in appropriate 
                commemorative programs and ceremonies in workplaces, 
                houses of worship, and other community centers and to 
                reach out to protect and educate our children and to 
                help and comfort all people who are living with HIV and 
                AIDS.

                IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this 
                first day of December, in the year of our Lord nineteen 
                hundred and ninety-eight, and of the Independence of 
                the United States of America the two hundred and 
                twenty-third.

                    (Presidential Sig.)

[FR Doc. 98-32461
Filed 12-4-98; 8:45 am]
Billing code 3195-01-P