[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 38, Number 49 (Monday, December 9, 2002)]
[Pages 2107-2108]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Proclamation 7631--World AIDS Day, 2002

 November 27, 2002

By the President of the United States

of America

A Proclamation

    The HIV/AIDS pandemic has taken the lives of more than 20 million 
people and is projected to take millions more. On World AIDS Day, 
countries around the world are united to support the individuals, 
families, and communities affected by this disease, and to renew our 
commitment to preventing the spread of HIV/AIDS, developing and 
delivering more effective treatments, and finding a cure.
    To support our struggle against HIV/AIDS, we must call upon the 
compassion, energy, and generosity of all people. Through their service 
and dedication, faith-based and volunteer organizations are providing 
local and global communities with strategies to confront the HIV/AIDS 
pandemic. By responding to the needs of their neighbors, these 
organizations and individual citizens offer invaluable support and hope 
to countless people. These organizations also help overcome dangerous 
barriers to HIV prevention, care, and treatment such as the stigma and 
discrimination that often attaches to those suffering from HIV/AIDS. By 
raising awareness and promoting acceptance of people living with HIV/
AIDS, we help improve the lives of millions of people around the world 
and demonstrate the compassion of our Nation.
    My Administration remains strongly committed to supporting research 
that treats those living with HIV/AIDS, prevents the spread of this 
disease, and that can develop a cure. For this coming year, my 
Administration has requested $2.9 billion for research on vaccines and 
treatments to combat the disease. This is a significant increase over 
prior year funding for these efforts, and expresses my Administration's 
commitment to helping find a cure.
    To help stop the global spread of AIDS we must prevent mothers from 
passing the HIV virus to their children. My Administration has committed 
$500 million to the new International Mother and Child HIV Prevention 
Initiative, which will focus on countries in Africa and the Caribbean 
where the problem is the most severe. This Initiative seeks to treat 1 
million women annually and to reduce mother-to-child transmission of 
HIV/AIDS by 40 percent within 5 years. It also increases the 
availability of preventative care and drug treatment therapy, and seeks 
to improve critical healthcare delivery systems. The International 
Mother and Child Prevention Initiative will save thousands of lives, and 
assist our vital effort to overcome the global devastation of HIV/AIDS.
    The United States intends to provide more than $1.3 billion in 2003 
to international efforts to combat HIV/AIDS, a 30 percent increase over 
the prior year's commitment. I was very pleased to help launch the 
Global Fund to Fight HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria together with 
U.N. Secretary-General Annan and Nigerian President Obasanjo. My 
Administration has since then pledged $500 million to the Global Fund, 
and we are committed to further support the Fund as it continues to 
demonstrate its success.
    On World AIDS Day, I urge world leaders and citizens to join the 
efforts to combat HIV/AIDS. By working together, we can provide hope and 
comfort to all those affected by this devastating disease.
    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, 2002, as World 
AIDS Day. I invite the Governors of the States and the Commonwealth of 
Puerto Rico, officials of other territories

[[Page 2108]]

subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, and the American 
people to join me in reaffirming our commitment to combating HIV/AIDS. I 
encourage all Americans to participate in appropriate commemorative 
programs and ceremonies in houses of worship, workplaces, and other 
community centers to remember those who have lost their lives to this 
deadly disease and to comfort and support those living with and impacted 
by HIV/AIDS.
    In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-seventh 
day of November, in the year of our Lord two thousand two, and of the 
Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and twenty-
seventh.
                                                George W. Bush

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 8:45 a.m., December 3, 
2002]

Note: This proclamation was released by the Office of the Press 
Secretary on November 29, and it was published in the Federal Register 
on December 4. This item was not received in time for publication in the 
appropriate issue.