[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 33, Number 49 (Monday, December 8, 1997)]
[Pages 1941-1942]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Proclamation 7056--World AIDS Day, 1997

December 1, 1997

By the President of the United States

of America

A Proclamation

    For more than 15 years, America and the world have faced the 
challenges posed by HIV and AIDS. This devastating disease respects no 
borders and does not discriminate. In every city, town, and community, 
we have lost sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, mothers and 
fathers, life partners and friends. HIV and AIDS have affected us all, 
regardless of income, region, gender, race, religion, sexual 
orientation, or age. Sadly, both the number of people living with AIDS 
and the number of new HIV infections is rising worldwide. This year, as 
we observe the tenth World AIDS Day, we recognize with particular 
concern the toll HIV and AIDS continue to take on our children and 
youth.
    The statistics are heartbreaking. In America alone, more than 7,500 
children under the age of 13 have been diagnosed with AIDS. Every hour 
of every day, two more Americans under the age of 21 become infected 
with HIV. Around the world, more than 1 million children are living with 
HIV and AIDS. Twelve hundred children die of AIDS each day, even as 
1,600 more become infected with the HIV virus. Compounding this tragedy 
is the terrible reality that many of the world's young people who are 
living with HIV and AIDS do not have access to the life-extending drugs 
and medical protocols that our scientists and doctors have developed. 
There is also a critical shortage of prescription drugs suitable for 
children suffering from pediatric HIV and AIDS. Of the 14 approved drugs 
for adults and adolescents, only five are approved for children.
    From the earliest days of my Administration, we have sought to meet 
the challenges posed by AIDS with increased resources and action. I am 
proud of our success, with the cooperation of the Congress, in 
dramatically increasing funding for AIDS prevention measures and 
research. Such programs and research have helped to slow the spread of 
HIV and AIDS and have made possible the production of new drugs that are 
extending the lives of people with HIV and AIDS here at home and around 
the world.
    But our progress against the scourge of AIDS has not been the result 
of government action alone. We have been able to make these great 
strides in understanding and treating HIV and AIDS thanks in large part 
to the hard work and commitment of thousands of researchers, health care 
providers, and clinical trial participants. I am proud as well of the 
resounding response of courage, compassion, responsibility, and love 
that the AIDS crisis has brought forth from our people. The lesbian and 
gay community, particularly in the early years of this epidemic, 
energized existing organizations and created new institutions to respond 
to the unmet needs of those living with HIV and AIDS. Educators and 
activists, members of religious and civic groups, business and labor 
organizations, and tens of thousands of other men and women of goodwill 
have joined together to comfort the afflicted and bring an end to this 
disease.
    We can rejoice in our progress, but we cannot rest. In May, I 
announced a new HIV vaccine initiative, and I am pleased that the global 
community has joined together in

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making the development of this vaccine a top international priority. 
Within 10 years, we hope to have the means to stop this deadly virus. 
But until we reach that day, I call on every American to remain with us 
on our crusade to eradicate this terrible epidemic and care for those 
living with AIDS along the way. As we mark World AIDS Day this year, we 
must continue to provide care for the sick and ensure that all have 
access to the treatment they need. And one of our most important tasks 
now is to strengthen our efforts to educate young people about HIV and 
AIDS and to make available to them and others at high risk effective 
prevention programs. By giving our children real hope for a future free 
from the shadows of HIV and AIDS, we can best commemorate the many loved 
ones we have already lost to the disease during its long and tragic 
course. May their enduring memory light our journey toward a vaccine for 
HIV and a final cure for 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, 1997, 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 and to 
helping those who live with the disease. 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 our children and to help all people who are living with 
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-seven, and 
of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and 
twenty-second.
                                            William J. Clinton

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 11:02 a.m., December 2, 
1997]

Note: This proclamation was published in the Federal Register on 
December 3.