[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 30, Number 21 (Monday, May 30, 1994)]
[Pages 1164-1165]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Proclamation 6694--Pediatric and Adolescent AIDS Awareness Week, 1994

May 25, 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.

[[Page 1165]]

    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.
                                            William J. Clinton

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 2:40 p.m., May 26, 1994]

Note: This proclamation was released by the Office of the Press 
Secretary on May 26, and will be published in the Federal Register on 
May 31.