A resolution supporting the goals of World AIDS Day.

III 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION S. RES. 781 Supporting the goals of World AIDS Day. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES DECEMBER 1, 2020 Mr. BOOKER (for himself and Mr. SULLIVAN) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations RESOLUTION Supporting the goals of World AIDS Day. Whereas, as of the end of 2019, an estimated 38,000,000 people were living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), including 1,800,000 children; Whereas, in the United States, more than 770,000 people with HIV/AIDS have died since the beginning of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, including nearly 16,000 deaths among people with diagnosed HIV in 2018, with the dis- ease disproportionately affecting certain populations; Whereas each year nearly 40,000 people become newly diag- nosed with HIV in the United States; Whereas communities of color are disproportionately affected by the spread of HIV in the United States; VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:58 Dec 01, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\SR781.IS SR781 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •SRES 781 IS Whereas, in order to address the HIV epidemic in the United States, on August 18, 1990, Congress enacted the Ryan White Comprehensive AIDS Resources Emergency Act of 1990 (Public Law 101–381; commonly referred to as the ‘‘Ryan White CARE Act’’) to provide primary medical care and essential support services for people living with HIV who would benefit from these services; Whereas the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program provides serv- ices and support for over half of all people diagnosed with HIV in the United States; Whereas, to further focus attention on the HIV/AIDS epi- demic among minority communities in the United States, in 1998, the Minority AIDS Initiative was established to provide funds to State and local institutions and organi- zations to best serve the health care costs and support the needs of racial and ethnic minorities living with HIV; Whereas the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals established a global target to end AIDS as a public health threat by 2030; Whereas, in order to further address the global HIV/AIDS epidemic, in 2003, Congress and the White House cre- ated the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR); Whereas the PEPFAR program remains the largest commit- ment in history by any country to combat a single dis- ease; Whereas, as of 2019, PEPFAR has supported treatment for approximately 15,700,000 people, including by providing antiretroviral drugs to 2,600,000 pregnant women living with HIV to prevent the transmission of HIV from moth- er to child during birth; VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:58 Dec 01, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\SR781.IS SR781 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •SRES 781 IS Whereas, in fiscal year 2019, PEPFAR directly supported HIV testing and counseling for nearly 79,600,000 people; Whereas the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, launched in 2002, has helped provide antiretroviral therapy to approximately 20,100,000 peo- ple living with HIV/AIDS and to 718,000 pregnant women to prevent the transmission of HIV/AIDS to their children, saving an estimated 38,000,000 lives, as of 2019; Whereas the United States is the largest donor to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, and every $1 contributed by the United States leverages an additional $2 from other donors, as required by law; Whereas considerable progress has been made in the fight against HIV/AIDS, including a 23-percent reduction in new HIV infections, over a 40-percent reduction in new HIV infections among children, and over a 30-percent re- duction in the number of AIDS-related deaths between 2010 and 2019; Whereas approximately 25,400,000 people had access to antiretroviral therapy in 2019, compared to only 7,800,000 people who had access to such therapy in 2010; Whereas research funded by the National Institutes of Health found that HIV treatment not only saves the lives of peo- ple living with HIV, but people living with HIV on effec- tive antiretroviral therapy and who are durably virally suppressed cannot sexually transmit HIV, proving that HIV treatment is prevention; VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:58 Dec 01, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\SR781.IS SR781 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •SRES 781 IS Whereas it is estimated that, without treatment, half of all infants living with HIV will die before their second birth- day; Whereas, despite the remarkable progress in combating HIV, significant challenges remain; Whereas there were approximately 1,700,000 new HIV infec- tions in 2019 globally, structural barriers continue to make testing and treatment programs inaccessible to highly vulnerable populations, and an estimated 7,100,000 people living with HIV globally still do not know their HIV status; Whereas the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention re- ports that more than 37,000 people were diagnosed with HIV in the United States in 2018 and 14 percent of the 1,200,000 in the United States living with HIV are not aware of their HIV status; Whereas men who have sex with men (MSM), particularly young MSM of color, are the population most affected by HIV in the United States; Whereas southern areas of the United States bear the great- est burden of HIV, accounting for 51 percent of new in- fections in 2018; Whereas people living with HIV are frequently susceptible to comorbidities, such as hepatitis B and C and tuber- culosis; Whereas the opioid and heroin epidemics have led to in- creased numbers of new HIV infections among people who inject drugs; Whereas the crisis has disproportionately affected nonurban areas, where HIV prevalence rates have been low histori- VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:58 Dec 01, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\SR781.IS SR781 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •SRES 781 IS cally and have limited services for HIV prevention and treatment and substance use disorder treatment; Whereas, in 2020, the United States hosted the Conference of the International AIDS Society, reinforcing the impor- tant leadership role the United States plays in ending AIDS globally; Whereas the COVID–19 pandemic has placed a significant burden on the public health systems across the United States and the globe; Whereas December 1 of each year is internationally recog- nized as ‘‘World AIDS Day’ ’’; and Whereas, in 2020, commemorations for World AIDS Day rec- ognize the need for ‘‘Global Solidarity, Shared Responsi- bility’’: Now, therefore, be it Resolved, That the Senate— 1 (1) encourages people around the world to work 2 to achieve the goal of zero new HIV infections, zero 3 discrimination, and zero AIDS-related deaths, in 4 order to end the HIV epidemic in the United States 5 and around the world by 2030; 6 (2) commends the efforts and achievements in 7 combating HIV/AIDS through the Ryan White HIV/ 8 AIDS Treatment Extension Act of 2009 (Public 9 Law 111–87), the Minority HIV/AIDS Initiative, 10 the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the 11 National Institutes of Health, the Substance Abuse 12 and Mental Health Services Administration, the Of- 13 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:58 Dec 01, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\SR781.IS SR781 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •SRES 781 IS fice of Minority Health, and the Office of the Sec- 1 retary of Health and Human Services; 2 (3) commends the efforts and achievements in 3 combating HIV/AIDS made by PEPFAR, the Global 4 Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, and 5 the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS; 6 (4) supports continued funding for prevention, 7 care, and treatment services, and research programs 8 for communities impacted by HIV and people living 9 with HIV in the United States and globally; 10 (5) urges, in order to ensure that an AIDS-free 11 generation is achievable, rapid action by all countries 12 toward further expansion and scale-up of 13 antiretroviral treatment programs, including efforts 14 to reduce disparities and improve access for children 15 to life-saving medications; 16 (6) encourages the scaling up of comprehensive 17 prevention services, including biomedical and struc- 18 tural interventions, to ensure inclusive access to pro- 19 grams and appropriate protections for all people at 20 risk of contracting HIV, especially in communities 21 disproportionately impacted; 22 (7) calls for greater focus on the HIV-related 23 vulnerabilities of women and girls, including women 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:58 Dec 01, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\SR781.IS SR781 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •SRES 781 IS and girls at risk for or who have survived violence 1 or faced discrimination as a result of the disease; 2 (8) supports continued leadership by the United 3 States in domestic, bilateral, multilateral, and pri- 4 vate sector efforts to fight HIV; 5 (9) encourages input from civil society in the 6 development and implementation of domestic and 7 global HIV policies and programs that guide the re- 8 sponse; 9 (10) encourages and supports greater degrees 10 of ownership and shared responsibility by developing 11 countries in order to ensure the sustainability of the 12 domestic responses to HIV/AIDS by those countries; 13 and 14 (11) urges other members of the international 15 community to sustain and scale up their support for 16 and financial contributions to efforts around the 17 world to combat HIV. 18 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:58 Dec 01, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\SR781.IS SR781 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS