[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 37, Number 49 (Monday, December 10, 2001)]
[Pages 1737-1738]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Proclamation 7510--World AIDS Day, 2001

 November 30, 2001

 By the President of the United States

 of America

 A Proclamation

    This year marks the 20th year that the world has been fighting the 
disease that we now know as Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS). 
AIDS has inflicted a terrible toll upon the world, taking millions of 
lives and causing untold grief to the families and friends of its 
victims. An estimated 40 million people worldwide are living with the 
Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), which causes AIDS; and more than 
8,000 people across the globe die from AIDS every day. Sadly, since its 
inception, AIDS has claimed the lives of more than 22 million 
individuals.
    This year's World AIDS Day theme is ``I Care . . . Do You? Youth and 
AIDS in the 21st Century.'' The goal underscoring this year's theme is 
ensuring greater education and involvement of young people in preventing 
HIV/AIDS. And it seeks to stress that every individual has both the 
responsibility and the opportunity to help prevent the spread of HIV/
AIDS and to assist those suffering from the disease.
    In many countries, including the United States, young people and 
adolescents are at a higher risk for contracting HIV infection. We know 
from epidemiological data that young people under the age of 25 comprise 
half of all new HIV infections worldwide. This sobering reality is a 
clarion call to public health networks around the world to redouble 
their efforts in providing information to young people about preventing 
HIV/AIDS, and most importantly, about abstinence and how it can help to 
prevent the spread of this disease.
    The AIDS epidemic has had a devastating impact on diverse 
communities, and disadvantaged youth have borne the brunt of this 
devastation. Impoverished conditions and depressed economic 
circumstances tend to accompany an increased presence of HIV in these 
communities. We must develop and implement better ways to communicate to 
youth about abstinence and other effective measures that will help them 
to avoid the disease and to envision a future filled with possibility.
    We must also continue our efforts to develop a vaccine that will 
protect individuals from becoming infected with HIV. Our children 
deserve to live in a world free from the fear of HIV/AIDS, and the 
United States will not weaken in its resolve to lead the world towards 
that goal.
    As we enter the third decade of the AIDS pandemic, our hearts go out 
to those who have been afflicted with or affected by this deadly 
disease. We resolve to stand together as a Nation and with the world to 
fight AIDS on all fronts. We resolve to provide the resources necessary 
to combat HIV/AIDS. And we resolve to ensure that those suffering with 
HIV/AIDS receive effective care and treatment, compassionate 
understanding, and encouraging hope.
     Now, Therefore, I, George W. Bush,  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, 2001, as 
World AIDS Day. I invite 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 reaffirming our commitment to combat HIV/AIDS. I encourage 
every American to participate in appropriate commemorative programs and 
ceremonies in workplaces, houses of worship, and other community centers 
to reach out and protect and

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educate our children, and to help comfort all people who are living with 
HIV and AIDS.
     In Witness Whereof,  I have hereunto set my hand this thirtieth day 
of November, in the year of our Lord two thousand one, and of the 
Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and twenty-
sixth.
                                                George W. Bush

 [Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 8:45 a.m., December 4, 
2001]

Note: This proclamation was published in the Federal Register on 
December 5. This item was not received in time for publication in the 
appropriate issue.