IV

104TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. CON. RES. 62

Expressing the sense of the Congress with respect to pediatric and adolescents

AIDS.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

APRIL 7, 1995

Mr. SERRANO (for himself, Mr. ACKERMAN, Mr. FROST, Mr. GONZALEZ, Mr.

GENE GREEN of Texas, Mr. HILLIARD, Mr. JEFFERSON, Ms. EDDIE

BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas, Mr. MCDERMOTT, Mrs. MALONEY, Mr.

MANTON, Mrs. MEEK of Florida, Mr. MOAKLEY, Mr. NADLER, Mr.

OWENS, Mr. RICHARDSON, Mr. ROMERO-BARCELO ́, Mr. STUDDS, Ms.

VELA ́ZQUEZ, Mr. WAXMAN, and Mr. YATES) submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Commerce

CONCURRENT RESOLUTION

Expressing the sense of the Congress with respect to

pediatric and adolescents AIDS.

Whereas more than 743,000 individuals in the United States

have been diagnosed with acquired immune deficiency

syndrome (commonly known as AIDS) and 360,000 have

died from the disease;

Whereas the Public Health Service has estimated that there

are currently between 1,000,000 and 1,500,000 persons

in the United States infected with AIDS;
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HCON 62 IH

Whereas the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has

reported 5,734 cases of pediatric AIDS and 1,768 cases

of adolescent AIDS as of June 1994;

Whereas, because 1 in 5 of all reported AIDS cases is diagnosed in the 20 to 29-year-old age group and the median

incubation period between human immuno deficiency

virus (HIV) infection and AIDS diagnosis is nearly 10

years, most of those people in their twenties who are diagnosed with AIDS were adolescents when they became

infected;

Whereas AIDS was the seventh leading cause of death among

children aged 1 to 4 in 1991 and if the incidence of

AIDS continues to increase, within the next 10 years

AIDS may become the fifth leading cause of death among

children of all ages in the United States;

Whereas AIDS is now the leading cause of death in the

United States among persons 25 to 44;

Whereas by the end of 1995, maternal deaths caused by the

HIV/AIDS epidemic will have orphaned an estimated

24,600 children (under age 13) and 21,000 adolescents

(aged 13 to 17) in the United States and unless the

course of the epidemic changes dramatically, by the year

2000 the overall number of motherless children and adolescents will exceed 80,000;

Whereas in 1994 reported AIDS cases among women continued to grow at a faster rate than among men, and more

than half the number of women’s cases were the result

of heterosexual transmission, not intravenous drug use;

Whereas the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that approximately 110,000 women in the United

States are infected with HIV and an estimated 7,000 are
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HCON 62 IH

expected to give birth to children each year, and approximately 1,500 to 2,000 of these children will be infected

with HIV;

Whereas more than 88 percent of children with AIDS have

a parent with, or at risk for, HIV infection;

Whereas 24 percent of reported pediatric AIDS cases in the

United States have occurred in New York City, and the

South Bronx has the highest HIV seroprevalence rate

among newborns in the United States;

Whereas Philadelphia ranks among American cities most impacted by reported AIDS cases among children age 0 to

13, and these children belong to an estimated 1,400 HIV

affected families; and

Whereas ethnic minorities are disproportionately affected by

AIDS, with 74 percent of women with AIDS and 79

percentum of children with AIDS being African-American

or Hispanic: Now, therefore, be it

1 Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate

2 concurring), That it is the sense of Congress that—

3 (1) it is important that the people of the United

4 States diligently seek preventative measures and bet5 ter solutions to care for women and youth, including

6 helping them gain access to HIV services and treat7 ment and other sexually transmitted disease clinical

8 therapies;

9 (2) early intervention and education resources

10 must be made available to all citizens, especially

11 youth and other high-risk groups, to make them
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1 more aware of AIDS and the risks associated with

2 engaging in unprotected sexual activity or substance

3 abuse;

4 (3) the Health Care Financing Administration

5 and the Public Health Service should work with ap6 propriate State officials to help design optimal care

7 packages needed for children, youth, and families

8 with AIDS or HIV infection especially as health care

9 system reforms are undertaken; and

10 (4) States and localities should recognize rel11 atives, extended family members, and other

12 nonbiological relatives as an appropriate source of

13 foster care for children with AIDS whose parents

14 can no longer care for them, subject to the same re15 view and afforded the same benefits as other foster

16 parents.

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