IV 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. RES. 99 

Supporting the goals and ideals of ‘‘National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness 

Day’’. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 7, 2023 

Ms. LEE of California (for herself, Mr. TONKO, Mrs. BEATTY, Mrs. WATSON

COLEMAN, Ms. WILLIAMS of Georgia, Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ, Ms. 

BUSH, Ms. TITUS, Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi, Mrs. HAYES, Mr. 

CA ́RDENAS, Mr. PAYNE, Ms. MENG, Mr. CARTER of Louisiana, Ms. NORTON, Mr. COHEN, Ms. JACKSON LEE, Mr. QUIGLEY, Mr. CICILLINE, Mr. 

GARCI ́A of Illinois, Ms. DEAN of Pennsylvania, Ms. SEWELL, Ms. JACOBS, 

Mr. TAKANO, Mr. SMITH of Washington, Ms. CLARKE of New York, Ms. 

BLUNT ROCHESTER, Mr. SOTO, Mr. IVEY, Mr. POCAN, Mr. 

KRISHNAMOORTHI, Mr. HORSFORD, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, and Mr. GRIJALVA) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the 

Committee on Energy and Commerce 

RESOLUTION 

Supporting the goals and ideals of ‘‘National Black HIV/ 

AIDS Awareness Day’’. 

Whereas the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 

(CDC) estimates that in the United States, more than 

1,189,000 people are living with HIV, and 13 percent do 

not know their status; 

Whereas in the United States, more than 700,000 people 

with AIDS have died since the beginning of the epidemic, 

including more than 290,000 African Americans; 


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Whereas, in 2020, 30,635 people aged 13 and older become 

newly diagnosed with HIV in the United States; 

Whereas since the beginning of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in 

the United States, racial and ethnic minorities have been 

disproportionately affected by the disease; 

Whereas African Americans are diagnosed with HIV later 

than their White counterparts, are confronted with greater barriers in accessing care and treatment, and face 

higher morbidity and mortality outcomes; 

Whereas African Americans account for nearly half of all 

those with AIDS who have died in the United States 

since the beginning of the epidemic; 

Whereas, in 2017, 2,620 African Americans died of HIV or 

AIDS, accounting for 47 percent of total deaths attributed to the disease that year; 

Whereas, in 2014, HIV/AIDS was the sixth-leading cause of 

death for Black men overall and for Black women ages 

25 to 34, and the fifth for Black men ages 35 to 44 and 

fourth for Black women ages 35 to 44, ranking higher 

than their respective counterparts in any other racial or 

ethnic group; 

Whereas, in 2019, African Americans represented 42 percent 

of all people living with HIV in the United States, despite 

comprising just 13 percent of the United States population; 

Whereas, in 2020, over 12,800 African Americans were diagnosed with HIV; 

Whereas, from 2015 to 2019, HIV diagnoses for African 

Americans decreased by 8 percent; 


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Whereas African-American gay and bisexual men are more 

affected by HIV than any other group in the United 

States, accounting for a higher proportion of HIV diagnoses, those living with HIV, those ever diagnosed with 

AIDS, and HIV/AIDS-related deaths; 

Whereas, in 2018, more than half of African Americans diagnosed with HIV were gay or bisexual men; 

Whereas, in 2018, among all gay and bisexual men who had 

received an HIV diagnosis, African Americans accounted 

for the highest number (39 percent); 

Whereas, according to a 2016 study by the CDC, an estimated half of Black gay men will be diagnosed with HIV 

in their lifetime, if current HIV diagnosis rates persist; 

Whereas homophobia, stigma, religious trauma, and discrimination pose major obstacles to HIV testing, treatment, 

and other prevention services for gay and bisexual African-American men; 

Whereas data show a 22-percent decrease in new HIV cases 

among Black women between 2010 and 2019; 

Whereas among all women in the United States, Black 

women account for the largest share of 6,400 new HIV 

diagnoses (3,400 or 53 percent) in 2019; 

Whereas African-American women face the highest risk of 

HIV and other sexually transmitted infections compared 

with women of other groups; 

Whereas the rate of new HIV transmission among Black 

women (18.9 per 100,000) is nearly 11 times as high as 

the rate among White women (1.8 per 100,000) and 

nearly 4 times as high as the rate among Latinas (4.9 

per 100,000); 


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Whereas among African-American women, the leading transmission category of HIV is heterosexual contact, followed 

by intravenous drug use; 

Whereas among African-American men, the leading transmission category of HIV is male-to-male sexual contact, 

followed by heterosexual contact; 

Whereas research indicates that the high incarceration rates 

of Black men may contribute to the disproportionate 

rates of HIV transmissions among Black women; 

Whereas, in 2020, there were more than 11,000 people living 

with HIV in State and Federal prisons; 

Whereas among incarcerated populations, African-American 

men are 5 times as likely as White men, and twice as 

likely as Hispanic/Latino men, to be diagnosed with HIV; 

Whereas among incarcerated populations, African-American 

women are more than twice as likely to be diagnosed with 

HIV as White or Hispanic/Latina women; 

Whereas the Williams Institute reports that HIV criminalization laws disproportionately impact African-Americans, 

who are more likely to be arrested and convicted of outdated laws lacking inclusion of modernized treatment access, options, and efficacy, facing longer sentences after 

conviction, and more likely to experience the lifelong consequences of a felony conviction including sex offender 

registry placement; 

Whereas transgender women in the United States are at high 

risk for HIV, with the CDC finding that 4 in 10 

transgender women surveyed in seven major United 

States cities have HIV; 

Whereas more than half of all transgender people diagnosed 

with HIV are Black or African American; 


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Whereas, in 2018, the South made up 51 percent of the new 

HIV diagnoses in the United States; 

Whereas African Americans are severely and disproportionately affected by HIV in the South, accounting for 52 

percent of all new HIV diagnoses in the region; 

Whereas socioeconomic issues impact the rates of HIV transmission among African Americans in the South and 

throughout the United States; 

Whereas socioeconomic factors like income inequality, poverty, and lack of access to HIV prevention education and 

basic health services, and cultural factors like 

homophobia, transphobia, and racism all pose significant 

challenges to combating the HIV/AIDS epidemic; 

Whereas the epidemic of community and interpersonal violence that communities most impacted by HIV experience 

disproportionately fuels the HIV epidemic; 

Whereas the United States is seeing signs of progress; 

Whereas, from 2014 to 2018, HIV diagnoses among AfricanAmerican women fell by over 10 percent and have also 

fallen sharply among African Americans who inject 

drugs; 

Whereas culturally competent outreach, testing, education, 

counseling, and harm reduction practices are all critical 

to prevent HIV; 

Whereas lifesaving treatment is also a proven prevention tool, 

and research shows that antiretroviral drugs can reduce 

the amount of virus to undetectable levels (also known as 

viral suppression), effectively resulting in no risk of 

transmission of HIV; 


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Whereas, in 2012, the Food and Drug Administration approved preexposure prophylaxis (PrEP) as prevention for 

people who are HIV-negative; 

Whereas PrEP can reduce the risk of HIV transmission for 

HIV-negative people by up to 99 percent; 

Whereas, in 1998, Congress and the Clinton administration 

created the National Minority AIDS Initiative to help coordinate funding, build capacity, and provide prevention, 

care, and treatment services within the African-American, 

Hispanic, Asian Pacific Islander, and Native American 

communities; 

Whereas the National Minority AIDS Initiative assists with 

leadership development of community-based organizations 

(CBOs), establishes and links provider networks, builds 

community prevention infrastructure, promotes technical 

assistance among CBOs, and raises awareness among African-American communities; 

Whereas 2022 marks the 24th year of the National Minority 

AIDS Initiative which has successfully established lifesaving services and programs to address the needs of 

those communities, families, and individuals most impacted and burdened by HIV; 

Whereas studies show that diversity in health care leadership 

can enhance quality of care, quality of life in the workplace, community relations, health communication, and 

the ability to positively affect community health status; 

Whereas HIV studies have found that patient-provider race/ 

ethnic concordance is associated with higher provider cultural competency and that greater cultural competency of 

health care providers is associated with increased quality 

and equity of HIV care as defined by patients recording 


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higher levels of self-efficacy and more likely to be on and 

adhering to antiretroviral (ARV) therapies; 

Whereas it stands to reason that the linkages between provider identity, cultural competency, and patient outcomes 

in the clinical setting would also apply to nonclinical settings important for advancing public health; 

Whereas AIDS service organizations have played a vital role 

in responding to the HIV epidemic, yet many are plagued 

by an underrepresentation of racial and ethnic minorities 

in leadership positions; 

Whereas research on community empowerment suggests that 

health outcomes are improved when individuals are engaged in advancing the health of their own communities 

and working with their peers and partners in health promotion and services; 

Whereas a focus on equity in the provision of services suggests a diverse public health workforce can help sustain 

much needed attention to community-identified priorities 

and raise the responsiveness of the health care system to 

diverse populations; 

Whereas, in 2010, the Obama administration unveiled the 

first National HIV/AIDS Strategy, which identified a set 

of priorities and strategic action steps tied to measurable 

outcomes for moving the Nation forward in addressing 

the domestic HIV epidemic; 

Whereas, in December 2021, the National HIV/AIDS Strategy for the United States (2022–2025) was released and 

included actions and goals in order to reduce HIV-related 

disparities and inequalities; 

Whereas, in 2016, Prevention Access Campaign and community members living with HIV launched the Undetectable 


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equals Untransmittable (U=U) movement to build and 

communicate a consensus about the largely unknown fact 

that people living with HIV who are on treatment and 

have an undetectable viral load cannot sexually transmit 

HIV; 

Whereas when people living with HIV are on treatment and 

have an undetectable viral load, they protect their own 

health, they cannot transmit HIV to their sexual partners, and their HIV is untransmittable; 

Whereas, in 2013, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) released a manual of 

best practices for faith leaders to mobilize communities, 

advocate for community support for people infected with 

and affected by HIV/AIDS, and organize dialogues on 

HIV/AIDS as a social justice issue as part of ‘‘The Black 

Church and HIV: The Social Justice Imperative’’; 

Whereas the Affordable Care Act’s expansion of Medicaid 

and reforms to the individual insurance market have 

helped lower the uninsured rates for nonelderly African 

Americans by more than one-third between 2013 and 

2016, leading to better health outcomes for African 

Americans living with or at risk of HIV; 

Whereas ‘‘National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day’’ was 

founded by 5 national organizations in 1999 to provide 

capacity-building assistance to Black communities and 

organizations; and 

Whereas, each year on February 7, individuals, organizations, 

and policymakers across the Nation participate in ‘‘National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day’’ to promote HIV 

education, testing, community involvement, and treatment in Black communities: Now, therefore, be it 


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1 Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 

2 (1) supports the goals and ideals of ‘‘National 

3 Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day’’; 

4 (2) encourages State and local governments, in5 cluding their public health agencies, and media orga6 nizations to recognize and support such day, to pub7 licize its importance among their communities, and 

8 to encourage individuals, especially African Ameri9 cans, to get tested for HIV; 

10 (3) commends the work of AIDS service organi11 zations, community-based organizations, faith-based 

12 organizations, health care providers, community 

13 health centers, and health departments that are pro14 viding effective, culturally competent, evidence15 based, prevention, treatment, care, and support serv16 ices to people living with and vulnerable to HIV/ 

17 AIDS; 

18 (4) supports the implementation of the National 

19 HIV/AIDS Strategy and its goals to reduce new 

20 HIV cases, increase access to care and improve 

21 health outcomes for people living with HIV, reduce 

22 HIV-related disparities and health inequities, and 

23 achieve a more coordinated national response to the 

24 HIV/AIDS epidemic; 


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1 (5) requests the Secretary of the Department of 

2 Health and Human Services to prioritize the dis3 tribution of National Minority AIDS Initiative 

4 grants to HIV-based agencies that are minority-led 

5 with preference given to organizations led by people 

6 who identify as African American/Black, Latino, 

7 American Indian/Alaska Native, Asian American, or 

8 Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander; 

9 (6) supports reducing the impact of incarcer10 ation as a driver of new HIV transmission rates 

11 within the African-American community; 

12 (7) supports reducing the number of HIV 

13 transmissions in the African-American community 

14 resulting from intravenous drug use; 

15 (8) supports effective and comprehensive HIV 

16 prevention education programs to promote the early 

17 identification of HIV through voluntary routine test18 ing, and to connect those in need to clinically and 

19 culturally appropriate care and treatment as early as 

20 possible; 

21 (9) encourages State and local governments, in22 cluding their public health agencies, and community23 based organizations to share and disseminate 

24 Undetectable equals Untransmittable (U=U) infor25 mation; 


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1 (10) supports appropriate funding for HIV/ 

2 AIDS prevention, care, treatment, research, and 

3 housing, including community-based approaches to 

4 fight stigma, discrimination, racism, sexism, 

5 homophobia, and transphobia; 

6 (11) encourages comprehensive prevention, 

7 treatment, and care strategies that empower public 

8 health workers, educators, faith leaders, and other 

9 stakeholders to engage their communities to help de10 crease violence, discrimination, and stigma toward 

11 individuals who disclose their sexual orientation, 

12 gender identity, or HIV status; and 

13 (12) encourages State, local, and Federal agen14 cies to consistently partner and formally engage with 

15 network leaders comprised of subject matter experts 

16 with lived experience to uphold the meaningful in17 volvement of people living with HIV as laid out in 

18 the Denver Principles of 1983. 

Æ 


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