IV 
118TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. RES. 281 
Supporting the goals and ideals of ‘‘National Youth HIV/AIDS Awareness 
Day’’. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
APRIL 6, 2023 
Ms. LEE of California (for herself, Mr. PAYNE, Ms. JACOBS, Ms. BARRAGA´N, 
Ms. CHU, Mr. DAVIS of Illinois, Ms. WILLIAMS of Georgia, Mrs. HAYES, 
Mr. EVANS, and Ms. SEWELL) submitted the following resolution; which 
was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 
RESOLUTION 
Supporting the goals and ideals of ‘‘National Youth HIV/ 
AIDS Awareness Day’’. 
Whereas ‘‘National Youth HIV/AIDS Awareness Day’’ is a 
nationwide observance that calls on people to take action 
to invest in the health, education, and leadership of 
young people; 
Whereas, more than 40 years into the epidemic, the Centers 
for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that in the 
United States more than 1,189,700 people are living with 
HIV, and 30,635 people were diagnosed with HIV in the 
United States in 2020; 
Whereas, in 2020, youth aged 13 to 24 years composed 20 
percent of all new HIV diagnoses in the United States; 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
22:58 Apr 06, 2023
Jkt 039200
PO 00000
Frm 00001
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6300
E:\BILLS\HR281.IH
HR281
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB
•HRES 281 IH 
Whereas young people living with HIV are the least likely of 
any age group to be retained in care and have a sup-
pressed viral load; 
Whereas 56 percent of young people living with HIV ages 13 
to 24 are unaware of their HIV status; 
Whereas African-American youth are most impacted by the 
epidemic, representing 54 percent of new transmissions 
in young people ages 13 to 24; 
Whereas young African-American gay and bisexual men are 
even more severely affected, representing 53 percent 
(2,740) of new HIV diagnoses among young gay and bi-
sexual men; 
Whereas young gay and bisexual men accounted for 84 per-
cent (5,161) of all new HIV diagnoses in people aged 13 
to 24 in 2020; 
Whereas the National HIV/AIDS Strategy expands the fact 
that youth experience worse HIV outcomes on status 
awareness, pre-exposure prophylaxis uptake, and health 
outcomes; 
Whereas the National HIV/AIDS Strategy recommends chil-
dren and young adults with HIV need tailored and often 
more intensive medical and support services to support 
them as they grow and become young adults; 
Whereas the Division of Adolescent and School Health is the 
only Federal program supporting HIV prevention for 
adolescents in schools; 
Whereas the Nation’s largest Federal program dedicated to 
providing care and treatment for people living with HIV 
was named after Ryan White, a teenager from Indiana 
who helped educate a Nation about HIV and AIDS in the 
1980s; 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
22:58 Apr 06, 2023
Jkt 039200
PO 00000
Frm 00002
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6300
E:\BILLS\HR281.IH
HR281
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB
•HRES 281 IH 
Whereas the Ryan White Part D Program is one of the na-
tional efforts to link young people living with HIV to 
medical care and support services; 
Whereas the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act pro-
vides youth, including those living with or impacted by 
HIV and AIDS, better access to health care coverage, 
more health insurance options, additional funding for sex 
education, a prohibition against denying people living 
with HIV access to health care, and expanded access to 
Medicaid which will support more young people living 
with HIV receiving care; and 
Whereas April 10 of each year is now recognized as ‘‘Na-
tional Youth HIV/AIDS Awareness Day’’: Now, there-
fore, be it 
Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 
(1) supports the goals and ideals of ‘‘National 
Youth HIV/AIDS Awareness Day’’; 
(2) encourages State and local governments, in-
cluding their public health agencies, education agen-
cies, schools, and media organizations to recognize 
and support such a day; 
(3) supports young people’s right to education, 
prevention, treatment, and care, and to live without 
criminalization, discrimination, oppression, and stig-
ma; 
(4) promotes up-to-date, inclusive, culturally re-
sponsible, and medically accurate information about 
HIV, such as pre-exposure prophylaxis PreP, in sex 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
22:58 Apr 06, 2023
Jkt 039200
PO 00000
Frm 00003
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\HR281.IH
HR281
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB
•HRES 281 IH 
education curricula to ensure that all young people 
are educated about HIV, as called for in the Na-
tional HIV/AIDS Strategy; 
(5) supports removal of HIV laws that are sci-
entifically inaccurate and unfairly criminalize young 
people living with HIV for behaviors that are con-
sensual or have no risk of transmission; 
(6) urges youth-friendly and accessible health 
care services, especially access to medications such 
as pre-exposure prophylaxis, post-exposure prophy-
laxis, and antiretroviral therapy without parental 
consent, to better provide for the early identification 
of HIV through voluntary routine testing, and to 
connect those in need to clinically and culturally ap-
propriate care and treatment as early as possible; 
(7) supports the increase of funding for pro-
grams that support people impacted by and living 
with HIV, including the Centers for Disease Control 
and Prevention’s Division of Adolescent and School 
Health, the Division of STD Prevention, and the Di-
vision of HIV Prevention, the Ryan White HIV/ 
AIDS Program, the Medicaid program, AIDS Drug 
Assistance Programs, and programs that support 
medical mentorship, peer navigation, educating com-
munities on testing and treatment options, and peo-
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
22:58 Apr 06, 2023
Jkt 039200
PO 00000
Frm 00004
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\HR281.IH
HR281
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB
•HRES 281 IH 
ple accessing PrEP, and ensure a smoother transi-
tion to adult HIV care; 
(8) recommends a comprehensive prevention 
and treatment strategy that empowers young people, 
parents, public health workers, educators, faith lead-
ers, and other stakeholders to fully engage with their 
communities and families to help decrease violence, 
discrimination, and stigma toward individuals who 
disclose their sexual orientation or HIV status; 
(9) calls for a generation free of HIV stigma in 
a manner that prioritizes youth leadership and devel-
opment in order to ensure youth involvement in deci-
sions which impact their health and well-being as 
well as advance a pipeline for the next generation of 
HIV and AIDS doctors, advocates, educators, re-
searchers, and other professionals; and 
(10) recognizes the direct impact from harmful 
legislative efforts seeking to restrict bodily autonomy 
for young people, such as restrictions on abortion 
and birth control access and bans on transgender 
health care, which negatively impact youth access to 
nonstigmatizing HIV prevention, education, con-
fidential testing and treatment, and increases risk 
for criminalization. 
Æ 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
22:58 Apr 06, 2023
Jkt 039200
PO 00000
Frm 00005
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6301
E:\BILLS\HR281.IH
HR281
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB