Commemorating and supporting the goals of World AIDS Day.

Commemorating and supporting the goals of World AIDS Day. Whereas an estimated 35,000,000 people were living with HIV/AIDS as of the end of 2013; Whereas the United Nations Millennium Development Goals established a global target of halting and beginning to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS by 2015; Whereas the 2001 United Nations Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS mobilized global attention and commitment to the HIV/AIDS epidemic and set out a series of national targets and global actions to reverse the epidemic; Whereas the 2011 United Nations Political Declaration on HIV and AIDS provided an updated framework for intensified efforts to eliminate HIV and AIDS, including redoubling efforts to achieve by 2015 universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care, and support, and to eliminate gender inequalities and gender-based abuse and violence and increase the capacity of women and adolescent girls to protect themselves from the risk of HIV infection; Whereas the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria was launched in 2002 and, as of November 2013, supported programs in more than 140 countries that provided antiretroviral therapy to 6,600,000 people living with HIV/AIDS and antiretrovirals to 2,100,000 pregnant women to prevent transmission of HIV/AIDS to their babies; Whereas the United States is the largest donor to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria; Whereas, for every dollar contributed to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria by the United States, an additional $2 is leveraged from other donors; Whereas the United States Presidents Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) initiative was proposed by President George W. Bush and passed Congress on a bipartisan vote in 2003, and remains the largest commitment in history by any nation to combat a single disease; Whereas, as of the end of September 2014, PEPFAR supported treatment for 7,700,000 people, up from 1,700,000 in 2008, and in 2012, PEPFAR supported the provision of antiretroviral drugs to 750,000 pregnant women living with HIV to prevent the transmission of HIV from mother to child during birth; Whereas PEPFAR directly supported HIV testing and counseling for more than 56,700,000 people in fiscal year 2014; Whereas considerable progress has been made in the fight against HIV/AIDS, with the number of new HIV infections estimated at 2,100,000 in 2013, a 38-percent reduction since 2001, new HIV infections among children reduced to 240,000 in 2013, a reduction of 58 percent since 2001, and AIDS-related deaths reduced to 1,500,000 in 2013, a 35-percent reduction since 2005; Whereas increased access to antiretroviral drugs is the major contributor to the reduction in deaths from HIV/AIDS, and HIV treatment reinforces prevention because it reduces, by up to 96 percent, the chance the virus can be spread; Whereas the World Health Organization (WHO) has revised its guidelines for determining whether HIV positive individuals are eligible for treatment, thereby increasing the number of individuals eligible for treatment from about 15,900,000 to 28,600,000; Whereas 13,600,000 people in low- and middle-income countries had access to antiretroviral therapy as of June 2014; Whereas 19,000,000 of the 35,000,000 people living with HIV globally do not know their status, according to a 2014 UNAIDS report; Whereas, although sub-Saharan Africa remains the epicenter of the epidemic with approximately 1,100,000 AIDS-related deaths in 2013, there have also been successes, with an approximate 33-percent decline in new HIV infections from 2005 to 2013 and a 39-percent decrease in the number of AIDS-related deaths in sub-Saharan Africa between 2005 and 2013; Whereas stigma, gender inequality, and lack of respect for the rights of HIV positive individuals remain significant barriers to access to services for those most at risk of HIV infection; Whereas President Barack Obama voiced commitment to realizing the promise of an AIDS-free generation and his belief that the goal was within reach in his February 2013 State of the Union Address; Whereas the international community is united in pursuit of achieving the goal of an AIDS-free generation; Whereas a UNAIDS 2014 report on the state of the global epidemic assessed that AIDS could be ended as a public health threat by 2030 if a fast-track response is taken and certain targets are realized by 2020, and further noted that doing so would avert nearly 28,000,000 new HIV infections and 21,000,000 AIDS-related deaths by 2030; Whereas, during the Ebola Virus Disease outbreak of 2014, countries with PEPFAR-strengthened lab capacity, human capacity, and health facility capacity were able to contain Ebola outbreaks; Whereas, in August 2014, PEPFAR and the Childrens Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF) launched an initiative to double the total number of children receiving treatment over the next two years in ten countries; Whereas December 1 of each year is internationally recognized as World AIDS Day; and Whereas, in 2014, the theme for World AIDS Day commemorations was Focus, Partner, Achieve: An AIDS-free Generation That the Senate (1) supports the goals and ideals of World AIDS Day, including seeking to get to zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination, and zero AIDS-related deaths; (2) applauds the goals and approaches for achieving an AIDS-free generation set forth in the PEPFAR Blueprint: Creating an AIDS-free Generation, as well as the targets set by United Nations member states in the 2011 United Nations Political Declaration on HIV and AIDS; (3) commends the dramatic progress in global AIDS programs supported through the efforts of PEPFAR, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, and UNAIDS; (4) urges, in order to ensure that an AIDS-free generation is within reach, rapid action by all nations towards (A) full implementation of the Global Plan Towards the Elimination of New HIV Infections Among Children by 2015 and Keeping Their Mothers Alive to build on progress made to date; and (B) further expansion and scale-up of antiretroviral treatment programs, including efforts to reduce disparities and improve access for children to life-saving medications such as getting antiretroviral HIV medication to the 2,000,000 children with HIV currently unable to access them; (5) calls for scaling up treatment to reach all individuals eligible for treatment under WHO guidelines; (6) calls for greater focus on the HIV-related vulnerabilities of women and girls, including those at risk for or who have survived violence or faced discrimination as a result of the disease, and urges more directed efforts to ensure that they are connected to the information, care, support, and treatment they require; (7) supports efforts to ensure inclusive access to programs and appropriate protections for all those most at risk of HIV/AIDS and hardest to reach; (8) encourages additional private-public partnerships to research and develop better and more affordable tools for the diagnosis, treatment, vaccination, and cure of HIV; (9) supports continued leadership by the United States in bilateral, multilateral, and private sector efforts to fight HIV; (10) stresses the importance of ensuring that HIV and AIDS are central to the post-2015 United Nations development agenda and of advocating for the inclusion of targets under relevant goals towards achieving zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination, and zero AIDS-related deaths; (11) encourages and supports greater degrees of ownership and shared responsibility by developing countries in order to ensure sustainability of their domestic responses; and (12) encourages other members of the international community to sustain and scale up their support for and financial contributions to efforts around the world to combat HIV/AIDS.

Summary: Supports the goals and ideals of World AIDS Day. Commends the progress in global AIDS programs supported through the efforts of the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, and UNAIDS. Urges full implementation of the Global Plan Towards the Elimination of New HIV Infections Among Children by 2015 and Keeping Their Mothers Alive, and further expansion of antiretroviral treatment programs. Calls for scaling up treatment to reach all individuals eligible for treatment under World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines. Calls for greater focus on HIV/AIDS vulnerabilities of women and girls. Supports efforts to ensure program access and appropriate rights protections for those most at risk of HIV/AIDS and hardest to reach. Encourages additional private-public partnerships to research and develop better and more affordable tools for HIV diagnosis, treatment, and cure. Supports continued U.S. leadership in bilateral, multilateral, and private sector efforts to fight HIV. Stresses the importance of ensuring that HIV and AIDS are central to the post-2015 United Nations (U.N.) development agenda. Supports greater degrees of ownership and shared responsibility by developing countries in order to ensure sustainability of their domestic responses. Encourages other members of the international community to sustain and scale up their support for worldwide efforts to combat HIV/AIDS.