[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 233 (Tuesday, December 6, 2022)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 74491-74492]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-26606]


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  Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 233 / Tuesday, December 6, 2022 / 
Presidential Documents  

[[Page 74491]]


                Proclamation 10502 of November 30, 2022

                
World AIDS Day, 2022

                By the President of the United States of America

                A Proclamation

                On World AIDS Day, we recommit to ending the HIV 
                epidemic in the United States and around the world and 
                rededicate ourselves to fighting the discrimination 
                that too often keeps people with HIV from getting the 
                services they need and living the full lives they 
                deserve.

                It was long hard to imagine, but today, we are within 
                striking distance of eliminating HIV transmission 
                worldwide. Thanks to the incredible dedication of 
                scientists, activists, health care workers, caregivers, 
                and so many others, we have made enormous progress 
                preventing, detecting, and treating HIV; reducing case 
                counts and AIDS-related deaths; and freeing millions of 
                people to enjoy long, healthy lives. Still, not 
                everyone has equal access to that care. And for the 
                more than 38 million people around the world now living 
                with HIV--especially members of the LGBTQI+ community, 
                communities of color, women, and girls--a diagnosis is 
                still life-altering. We can do better.

                When I became President, we reestablished the White 
                House Office of National AIDS Policy and released a 
                roadmap to accelerate efforts to end the HIV epidemic 
                in the United States by 2030. Federal agencies have 
                committed to nearly 400 related actions, working with 
                stakeholders across the country to make the latest 
                advances in HIV prevention, diagnosis, and treatment 
                available to everyone. I have asked the Congress for 
                $850 million to increase the use of preexposure 
                prophylaxis (PrEP), expand treatment, and fight the 
                stigma that stops many people from getting care. We are 
                working to remove barriers to employment, with our 
                Armed Forces, for example, ending blanket restrictions 
                on HIV-positive service members being deployed or 
                commissioned. And we are calling on States to repeal or 
                reform so-called HIV criminalization laws, which 
                wrongly punish people for exposing others to HIV. These 
                outdated laws have no basis in science, and they serve 
                to discourage testing and further marginalize HIV-
                positive people.

                Our important work to end HIV extends far beyond our 
                borders too, with continued support for the game-
                changing, bipartisan President's Emergency Plan for 
                AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). Since 2003, PEPFAR has helped at 
                least 12 high disease-burdened countries bring HIV 
                under control and has saved over 25 million lives. Its 
                efforts to make HIV prevention and treatment services 
                more accessible have achieved a 65 percent reduction in 
                new HIV cases in males 15 to 24 years old and a 50 
                percent reduction in new HIV cases among females the 
                same age since 2010. And its flagship Determined, 
                Resilient, Empowered, AIDS-free, Mentored and Safe 
                (DREAMS) public-private partnership has reached 
                millions of adolescent girls and young women, reducing 
                new HIV infections in areas where the program operates. 
                My Administration has also pledged up to $6 billion to 
                the Seventh Replenishment of the Global Fund to Fight 
                AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria--an initiative that has 
                saved an estimated 50 million lives to date. I am 
                asking other international donors to match that 
                commitment so we can together deliver on the promise of 
                health and well-being for millions around the world.

[[Page 74492]]

                We still have a hard road ahead, especially in 
                addressing racial and gender gaps in our health 
                systems, which have long driven inequitable HIV 
                outcomes at home and abroad. But as we today honor the 
                700,000 Americans and 40 million lives lost worldwide 
                to AIDS-related illnesses over the years, we have new 
                hope in our hearts. We finally have the scientific 
                understanding, treatments, and tools to build an AIDS-
                free future where everyone--no matter who they are, 
                where they come from, or whom they love--can get the 
                care and respect they deserve.

                NOW, THEREFORE, I, JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR., President of 
                the United States of America, by virtue of the 
                authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws 
                of the United States, do hereby proclaim December 1, 
                2022, as World AIDS Day. I urge the Governors of the 
                United States and its Commonwealths and Territories, 
                the appropriate officials of all units of government, 
                and the American people to join the HIV community in 
                activities to remember those who have lost their lives 
                to AIDS and to provide support, dignity, and compassion 
                to people with HIV.

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

[FR Doc. 2022-26606
Filed 12-5-22; 8:45 am]
Billing code 3395-F3-P