[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 234 (Wednesday, December 5, 2012)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 72195-72196]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-29466]


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  Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 234 / Wednesday, December 5, 2012 / 
Presidential Documents  

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 Title 3--
 The President

[[Page 72195]]

                Proclamation 8909 of November 29, 2012

                
World AIDS Day, 2012

                By the President of the United States of America

                A Proclamation

                On World AIDS Day, more than 30 years after the first 
                cases of this tragic illness were reported, we join the 
                global community once more in standing with the 
                millions of people who live with HIV/AIDS worldwide. We 
                also recommit to preventing the spread of this disease, 
                fighting the stigma associated with infection, and 
                ending this pandemic once and for all.

                In 2010, my Administration released the National HIV/
                AIDS Strategy, our Nation's first comprehensive plan to 
                fight the domestic epidemic. The Strategy aims to 
                reduce new infections, increase access to care, reduce 
                health disparities, and achieve a more coordinated 
                national response to HIV/AIDS here in the United 
                States. To meet these goals, we are advancing HIV/AIDS 
                education; connecting stakeholders throughout the 
                public, private, and non-profit sectors; and investing 
                in promising research that can improve clinical 
                outcomes and reduce the risk of transmission. Moving 
                forward, we must continue to focus on populations with 
                the highest HIV disparities--including gay men, and 
                African American and Latino communities--and scale up 
                effective, evidence-based interventions to prevent and 
                treat HIV. We are also implementing the Affordable Care 
                Act, which has expanded access to HIV testing and will 
                ensure that all Americans, including those living with 
                HIV/AIDS, have access to health insurance beginning in 
                2014.

                These actions are bringing us closer to an AIDS-free 
                generation at home and abroad--a goal that, while 
                ambitious, is within sight. Through the President's 
                Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), we are on 
                track to meet the HIV prevention and treatment targets 
                I set last year. We are working with partners at home 
                and abroad to reduce new infections in adults, help 
                people with HIV/AIDS live longer, prevent mother-to-
                child transmission, and support the global effort to 
                eliminate new infections in children by 2015. And 
                thanks to bipartisan action to lift the entry ban on 
                persons living with HIV, we were proud to welcome 
                leaders from around the world to the 19th International 
                AIDS Conference in Washington, D.C.

                Creating an AIDS-free generation is a shared 
                responsibility. It requires commitment from partner 
                countries, coupled with support from donors, civil 
                society, people living with HIV, faith-based 
                organizations, the private sector, foundations, and 
                multilateral institutions. We stand at a tipping point 
                in the fight against HIV/AIDS, and working together, we 
                can realize our historic opportunity to bring that 
                fight to an end.

                Today, we reflect on the strides we have taken toward 
                overcoming HIV/AIDS, honor those who have made our 
                progress possible, and keep in our thoughts all those 
                who have known the devastating consequences of this 
                illness. The road toward an AIDS-free generation is 
                long--but as we mark this important observance, let us 
                also remember that if we move forward every day with 
                the same passion, persistence, and drive that has 
                brought us this far, we can reach our goal. We can beat 
                this disease. On World AIDS Day, in memory of those no 
                longer with us and in solidarity with all who carry on 
                the fight, let us pledge to make that vision a reality.

                NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the 
                United States of America, by virtue of the authority 
                vested in me by the Constitution

[[Page 72196]]

                and the laws of the United States do hereby proclaim 
                December 1, 2012, as World AIDS Day. I urge the 
                Governors of the States and 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 appropriate activities to remember 
                those who have lost their lives to AIDS and to provide 
                support and comfort to those living with this disease.

                IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this 
                twenty-ninth day of November, in the year of our Lord 
                two thousand twelve, and of the Independence of the 
                United States of America the two hundred and thirty-
                seventh.
                
                
                    (Presidential Sig.)

[FR Doc. 2012-29466
Filed 12-4-12; 8:45 am]
Billing code 3295-F3