III 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. RES. 927 

Commemorating and supporting the goals of World AIDS Day. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

DECEMBER 16, 2024 

Mr. BOOKER submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the 

Committee on Foreign Relations 

RESOLUTION 

Commemorating and supporting the goals of World AIDS 

Day. 

Whereas, as of the end of 2023, an estimated 39,900,000 

people were living with human immunodeficiency virus 

(referred to in this preamble as ‘‘HIV’’) or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (referred to in this preamble as 

‘‘AIDS’’), including 1,400,000 children; 

Whereas, in the United States, more than 790,000 people 

with AIDS have died since the beginning of the HIV epidemic, including over 19,000 deaths among people with 

diagnosed HIV in 2022, with the disease disproportionately affecting communities of color; 

Whereas, in 2022, over 37,000 people became newly diagnosed with HIV in the United States; 


kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB
2 

•SRES 927 IS 

Whereas, while all races and ethnicities are affected by HIV 

in the United States, communities of color are disproportionately impacted; 

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 

(Public Law 101–381; 104 Stat. 576) (commonly referred to as the ‘‘Ryan White CARE Act’’) to provide 

primary medical care and essential support services for 

people living with HIV who are uninsured or underinsured; 

Whereas the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program provides services and support for over half of all people diagnosed with 

HIV in the United States; 

Whereas, to further focus attention on the HIV/AIDS epidemic among minority communities in the United States, 

in 1998, the Minority AIDS Initiative was established to 

provide funds to State and local institutions and organizations 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 Administration of 

President George W. Bush, with bi-partisan support, created the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief 

(referred to in this preamble as ‘‘PEPFAR’’), which, for 

more than 2 decades, has served as the primary policy instrument of the United States to address HIV/AIDS in 

the developing world; 


kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB
3 

•SRES 927 IS 

Whereas the United States PEPFAR program remains the 

largest commitment in history by any country to combat 

a single disease; 

Whereas 25,000,000 lives have been saved through PEPFAR; 

Whereas, as of September 30, 2023, PEPFAR has supported 

treatment for more than 20,000,000 people, and has enabled 5,500,000 infants of mothers living with HIV to be 

born HIV-free; 

Whereas, in fiscal year 2023, PEPFAR directly supported 

HIV testing and counseling for 71,100,000 people; 

Whereas the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and 

Malaria was launched in 2002, and, as of 2023, has 

helped provide antiretroviral therapy to approximately 

25,000,000 people living with HIV/AIDS and to 695,000 

pregnant women to prevent the transmission of HIV/ 

AIDS to their children, saving an estimated 65,000,000 

lives; 

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 nearly 40-percent reduction in new HIV infections, a 60-percent reduction in new 

HIV infections among children, and a 50-percent reduction in the number of AIDS-related deaths between 2010 

and 2023; 

Whereas, approximately 30,700,000 people had access to 

antiretroviral therapy in 2023, compared to only 

7,800,000 people who had access to such therapy in 

2010; 


kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB
4 

•SRES 927 IS 

Whereas research funded by the National Institutes of Health 

found that HIV treatment not only saves the lives of people living with HIV, but people living with HIV on effective antiretroviral therapy and who are durably virally 

suppressed cannot sexually transmit HIV, proving that 

HIV treatment is prevention; 

Whereas it is estimated that, without treatment, half of all 

infants living with HIV will die before their second birthday; 

Whereas, despite the remarkable progress in combating HIV, 

significant challenges remain; 

Whereas there were approximately 1,300,000 new HIV infections in 2023 globally, structural barriers continue to 

make testing and treatment programs inaccessible to 

highly vulnerable populations, and an estimated 

5,400,000 people living with HIV globally still do not 

know their HIV status; 

Whereas children living with HIV are significantly less likely 

than adults to know their HIV status, and, as a result, 

are prevented from accessing life-saving treatment; 

Whereas the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that over 37,000 people were diagnosed with HIV 

in the United States in 2022, and 13 percent of the 

1,200,000 people in the United States living with HIV 

are not aware of their HIV status; 

Whereas men who have sex with men (referred to in this preamble as ‘‘MSM’’), particularly young MSM of color, are 

the population most affected by HIV in the United 

States; 


kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB
5 

•SRES 927 IS 

Whereas southern States bear the greatest burden of HIV in 

the United States, accounting for 49 percent of new infections in 2022; 

Whereas people living with HIV are frequently susceptible to 

other infections, such as hepatitis B and C and tuberculosis; 

Whereas the opioid and heroin epidemics have led to increased numbers of new HIV infections among people 

who inject drugs, and the crisis has disproportionately affected nonurban areas, where HIV prevalence rates have 

been low historically and have limited services for HIV 

prevention and treatment and substance use disorder 

treatment; 

Whereas December 1 of each year is internationally recognized as ‘‘World AIDS Day’’; and 

Whereas, in 2024, commemorations for World AIDS Day will 

recognize the essential role of community and collective 

action to sustain and accelerate HIV progress in the 

global HIV/AIDS response: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the Senate— 

2 (1) supports the goals and ideals of World 

3 AIDS Day, including the goal to achieve zero new 

4 human immunodeficiency virus (referred to in this 

5 resolution as ‘‘HIV’’) infections, zero discrimination, 

6 and zero acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (re7 ferred to in this resolution as ‘‘AIDS’’)-related 

8 deaths; 

9 (2) commends achievements in combating HIV/ 

10 AIDS through the Ryan White Comprehensive AIDS 


kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB
6 

•SRES 927 IS 

1 Resources Emergency Act (Public Law 101–381; 

2 104 Stat. 576), the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Treat3 ment Extension Act of 2009 (Public Law 111–87; 

4 123 Stat. 2885), the Minority HIV/AIDS Initiative, 

5 the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the 

6 National Institutes of Health, the Substance Abuse 

7 and Mental Health Services Administration, the Of8 fice of Minority Health, and the Office of the Sec9 retary of Health and Human Services; 

10 (3) commends achievements in combating HIV/ 

11 AIDS made by the President’s Emergency Plan for 

12 AIDS Relief, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tu13 berculosis and Malaria, and the Joint United Na14 tions Programme on HIV/AIDS; 

15 (4) supports efforts to end the HIV epidemic in 

16 the United States and around the world by 2030; 

17 (5) supports continued funding for prevention, 

18 care, and treatment services, and research programs 

19 for communities impacted by HIV and people living 

20 with HIV in the United States and globally; 

21 (6) urges, in order to ensure that an AIDS-free 

22 generation is achievable, rapid action by all countries 

23 toward further expansion and scale-up of testing and 

24 antiretroviral treatment programs, including efforts 


kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB
7 

•SRES 927 IS 

1 to reduce growing disparities and improve access for 

2 children to life-saving medications; 

3 (7) encourages the scaling up of comprehensive 

4 prevention services, including biomedical and struc5 tural interventions, to ensure inclusive access to pro6 grams and appropriate protections for all people at 

7 risk of contracting HIV, especially in communities 

8 disproportionately impacted; 

9 (8) calls for greater focus on the HIV-related 

10 vulnerabilities of women and girls, including women 

11 and girls at risk for or who have survived violence 

12 or faced discrimination as a result of the disease; 

13 (9) supports continued leadership by the United 

14 States in domestic, bilateral, multilateral, and pri15 vate sector efforts to fight HIV; 

16 (10) encourages input from civil society in the 

17 development and implementation of domestic and 

18 global HIV policies and programs that guide the re19 sponse; 

20 (11) encourages and supports greater degrees 

21 of ownership and shared responsibility by developing 

22 countries in order to ensure the sustainability of the 

23 domestic responses to HIV/AIDS by those countries; 

24 and 


kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB
8 

•SRES 927 IS 

1 (12) urges other members of the international 

2 community to sustain and scale up their support for 

3 and financial contributions to efforts around the 

4 world to combat HIV. 

Æ 


kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB