IV 
119TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. RES. 1039 
Supporting the goals and ideals of ‘‘National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness 
Day’’. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
FEBRUARY 4, 2026 
Ms. WATERS (for herself, Mr. POCAN, Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN, Mr. GARCIA 
of California, Mr. COHEN, Mr. DAVIS of Illinois, Ms. NORTON, Ms. WIL-
LIAMS of Georgia, Mr. MFUME, Mr. CARTER of Louisiana, Ms. TLAIB, 
Mr. CARSON, Ms. SIMON, Mr. KRISHNAMOORTHI, Ms. CLARKE of New 
York, Ms. BARRAGA´N, Mrs. MCIVER, Ms. SEWELL, Mrs. RAMIREZ, Ms. 
MCCLELLAN, Mr. CLEAVER, Ms. KELLY of Illinois, Mr. THOMPSON of 
Mississippi, Mr. BELL, Ms. WILSON of Florida, Ms. KAMLAGER-DOVE, 
Mr. THANEDAR, Mrs. GRIJALVA, Ms. FRIEDMAN, and Mr. TAKANO) sub-
mitted 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 (in 
this preamble referred to as CDC) estimated that in the 
United States, more than 1,200,000 people are living 
with human immunodeficiency virus (in this preamble re-
ferred to as HIV), and 13 percent do not know they are 
infected; 
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•HRES 1039 IH 
Whereas, in the United States, more than 700,000 people 
with HIV/AIDS have died since the beginning of the epi-
demic; 
Whereas, in 2022, there were an estimated 31,800 new HIV 
infections in the United States, including about 11,900 
African-Americans; 
Whereas, since the beginning of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in 
the United States, African-Americans have been dis-
proportionately affected by the disease; 
Whereas Black Americans affected by HIV/AIDS are con-
fronted with greater barriers in accessing care and treat-
ment and face higher morbidity and mortality outcomes 
than whites; 
Whereas Black Americans represent only 12 percent of the 
population of the United States, but they account for 39 
percent of new HIV diagnoses, 40 percent of people living 
with HIV/AIDS, and 43 percent of deaths among people 
with HIV/AIDS; 
Whereas the rate of new HIV diagnoses among Black Ameri-
cans is about 8 times that of whites; 
Whereas Black women account for about half of new HIV di-
agnoses among women; 
Whereas Black young people account for about half of new 
HIV diagnoses among young people ages 13 to 24; 
Whereas, in 2021, HIV was the eighth-leading cause of death 
for Black men and for Black women ages 25 to 34; 
Whereas Black gay and bisexual men have been dispropor-
tionately impacted by HIV/AIDS in the United States; 
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•HRES 1039 IH 
Whereas Black gay and bisexual men account for 49 percent 
of all Black people living with HIV and 30 percent of all 
gay and bisexual men living with HIV; 
Whereas homophobia, stigma, religious trauma, and discrimi-
nation pose major obstacles to HIV testing, treatment, 
and prevention services for gay and bisexual Black Amer-
ican men; 
Whereas the disproportionate incarceration rates of Black 
men may contribute to the disproportionate rates of HIV 
transmissions among Black men and Black women; 
Whereas transgender women, including Black transgender 
women, in the United States are at high risk for HIV; 
Whereas socioeconomic issues impact the rates of HIV trans-
mission among African-Americans throughout the United 
States; 
Whereas socioeconomic factors like income inequality, pov-
erty, 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 vio-
lence that communities most impacted by HIV experience 
disproportionately fuels the HIV epidemic; 
Whereas the United States is seeing signs of progress in com-
bating the HIV/AIDS epidemic; 
Whereas, between 2010 and 2022, there has been a 12-per-
cent decline in the number of new HIV diagnoses in the 
United States overall and a 22-percent decline in the 
number of new HIV diagnoses among Black Americans; 
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•HRES 1039 IH 
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; 
Whereas, in 2012, the Food and Drug Administration ap-
proved 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 Minority AIDS Initiative to help coordinate 
funding, build capacity, and provide prevention, care, and 
treatment services within the African-American, His-
panic, Asian Pacific Islander, and Native American com-
munities; 
Whereas the Minority AIDS Initiative assists with leadership 
development of community-based organizations (CBOs), 
builds community prevention infrastructure, promotes 
technical assistance among CBOs, and raises awareness 
among minority communities; 
Whereas 2025 marks the 27th year of the Minority AIDS 
Initiative, which has successfully established lifesaving 
services and programs to address the needs of minority 
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 work-
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•HRES 1039 IH 
place, community relations, health communication, and 
the ability to positively affect community health status; 
Whereas greater cultural competency of health care providers 
is associated with increased quality and equity of HIV 
care; 
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 en-
gaged in advancing the health of their own communities 
and working with their peers and partners in health pro-
motion and services; 
Whereas a focus on equity in the provision of services sug-
gests 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 2021, the National HIV/AIDS Strategy for the 
United States (2022–2025) was released and included ac-
tions and goals in order to reduce HIV-related disparities 
and inequalities; 
Whereas when people living with HIV are on treatment and 
have an undetectable viral load, they protect their own 
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•HRES 1039 IH 
health, they cannot transmit HIV to their sexual part-
ners, and their HIV is untransmittable; 
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, leading to better health outcomes for African- 
Americans living with or at risk of HIV; 
Whereas ‘‘National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day’’ was 
founded to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS among 
Black Americans and 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 ‘‘Na-
tional Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day’’ to promote HIV 
education, testing, community involvement, and treat-
ment in Black communities: Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 
(1) supports the goals and ideals of ‘‘National 
Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day’’; 
(2) encourages State and local governments, in-
cluding their public health agencies, and media orga-
nizations to recognize and support such day, to pub-
licize its importance among their communities, and 
to encourage individuals, especially African-Ameri-
cans, to get tested for HIV; 
(3) commends the work of AIDS service organi-
zations, community-based organizations, faith-based 
organizations, health care providers, community 
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•HRES 1039 IH 
health centers, and health departments that are pro-
viding effective, culturally competent, evidence-based 
prevention, treatment, care, and support services to 
people living with and vulnerable to HIV/AIDS; 
(4) supports the implementation of the National 
HIV/AIDS Strategy and its goals to reduce new 
HIV cases, increase access to care and treatment, 
and improve health outcomes for people living with 
HIV, reduce HIV-related disparities and health in-
equities, and achieve a more coordinated national re-
sponse to the HIV/AIDS epidemic; 
(5) requests the Secretary of Health and 
Human Services to prioritize the distribution of Mi-
nority AIDS Initiative grants to HIV-based agencies 
that are minority led with preference given to orga-
nizations led by people who identify as African- 
American/Black, Latino, American Indian/Alaska 
Native, Asian-American, or Native Hawaiian/Pacific 
Islander; 
(6) supports reducing the impact of incarcer-
ation as a driver of new HIV transmission rates 
within the African-American community; 
(7) supports reducing the number of HIV 
transmissions in the African-American community 
resulting from intravenous drug use; 
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•HRES 1039 IH 
(8) supports effective and comprehensive HIV 
prevention education programs in order to promote 
the early identification of HIV through voluntary 
routine testing and to connect those in need to clini-
cally and culturally appropriate care and treatment 
as early as possible; 
(9) encourages State and local governments, in-
cluding their public health agencies, and community- 
based organizations to share and disseminate that 
when people living with HIV are on treatment and 
have an undetectable viral load, they protect their 
own health and they cannot transmit HIV to their 
sexual partners; 
(10) supports appropriate funding for HIV/ 
AIDS prevention, care, treatment, research, and 
housing, including community-based approaches to 
fight 
stigma, 
discrimination, 
racism, 
sexism, 
homophobia, and transphobia; 
(11) 
encourages 
comprehensive 
prevention, 
treatment, and care strategies that empower public 
health workers, educators, faith leaders, and other 
stakeholders to engage their communities to help de-
crease violence, discrimination, and stigma toward 
individuals who disclose their sexual orientation, 
gender identity, or HIV status; and 
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•HRES 1039 IH 
(12) encourages State, local, and Federal agen-
cies to consistently partner and formally engage with 
network leaders comprised of subject matter experts 
with lived experience to uphold the meaningful in-
volvement of people living with HIV as laid out in 
the Denver Principles of 1983. 
Æ 
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