World AIDS Day 2023 at the White House (Washington Blade Photo by Michael Key)
WASHINGTON | President Joe Biden honored World AIDS Day Dec. 1 observance with a proclamation as the red ribbon was displayed at the White House to mark the occasion.
Crediting the “enormous progress” that has been made in the fight against the disease, Biden noted that “about 39 million people continue to live with HIV, including more than one million people in the United States.”
“Far too often, people living with HIV face discrimination that prevents them from accessing the care they need,” he said.
The president then named some of his administration’s accomplishments in tackling this public health issue, including ending discriminatory blood donation bans, reviving the White House Office of National AIDS Policy, and launching “a new National HIV/AIDS Strategy — a roadmap for using innovative community-driven solutions to end the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the United States by 2030.”
Biden said the White House continues working with “state and community leaders” to combat HIV criminalization laws that “wrongly punish people for exposing others” to the disease and noted that he has asked Congress for $850 million “to aggressively reduce new HIV cases, fight the stigma that stops many people from getting care, and increase access to pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP).”
Meanwhile, overseas, “We are also focused on ending HIV/AIDS as a public health threat worldwide by 2030 under the bipartisan President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR),” Biden said. “PEPFAR is focusing on forging a future where every HIV infection is prevented, every person has access to treatment, and every generation can live free from the stigma that too often surrounds HIV.”
The president noted that “My Administration is committed to working with the Congress to pass a clean PEPFAR reauthorization bill to extend this lifesaving bipartisan program for 5 years and end HIV/AIDS by 2030.”
Biden concluded his proclamation by calling to “let us honor all the families who have lost a loved one to this disease and all the people currently living with HIV/AIDS. Let us remember the activists, scientists, doctors, and caregivers who have never given up in the fight against the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Let us recommit to finishing this fight — together.”
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