[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 233 (Friday, December 4, 1998)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 66977-66978]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-32461]
Presidential Documents
Federal Register / Vol. 63, No. 233 / Friday, December 4, 1998 /
Presidential Documents
___________________________________________________________________
Title 3--
The President
[[Page 66977]]
Proclamation 7153 of December 1, 1998
World AIDS Day, 1998
By the President of the United States of America
A Proclamation
On World AIDS Day, we are heartened by the knowledge
that our unprecedented investments in AIDS research
have resulted in new treatments that are prolonging the
lives of many people living with the disease. Thousands
of scientists, health care professionals, and patients
themselves have joined together to advance our
understanding of HIV and AIDS and improve treatment
options. Because of the heroic efforts of these people,
fewer and fewer Americans are losing their lives to
AIDS, and for that we are immensely thankful.
But the AIDS epidemic is far from over. Within racial
and ethnic minority communities, HIV and AIDS are a
severe and ongoing crisis. While the number of deaths
in our country attributed to AIDS has declined for 2
consecutive years, AIDS remains the leading killer of
African American men aged 25-44 and the second leading
killer of African American women in the same age group.
African Americans, who comprise only 13 percent of the
U.S. population, accounted for 43 percent of new AIDS
cases in 1997 and 36 percent of all AIDS cases.
Hispanic Americans represent just 10 percent of our
population, but they account for more than 20 percent
of new AIDS cases; and AIDS is also becoming a critical
concern to Native American and Asian American
communities. Young people of every racial and ethnic
community are also disproportionately impacted by AIDS,
both in the number of new AIDS cases and in the number
of new HIV infections. In fact, the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention estimate that approximately half
of all new HIV infections in the United States occur in
people under age 25 and that one-quarter occur in
people under age 22.
Across the world, the situation is even more grim. As
with other epidemics before it, AIDS hits hardest in
areas where knowledge about the disease is scarce and
poverty is high. Of the nearly 6 million people newly
infected with HIV each year, more than 90 percent live
in the poorest nations of the world.Entire communities
are threatened by this epidemic, and the growing number
of children who will lose parents to AIDS will have a
devastating impact on these societies. By the year
2010, there may be as many as 40 million children who
will have been orphaned by AIDS, and developing nations
will have to struggle to deal with the overwhelming
needs of a generation of young people left without
parents.
This year's World AIDS Day theme, ``Be A Force For
Change,'' is a reminder that each of us has a role to
play in bringing the AIDS epidemic to an end. Our
response must be comprehensive and ongoing. It must
also be a collaborative one, bringing together
governments and communities in a shared effort to
expand prevention efforts, raise awareness among young
people of the risks of HIV infection and how to avoid
it, increase access to lifesaving therapies, and ensure
that those who are living with HIV and AIDS receive the
care and services they need.
[[Page 66978]]
Developing a vaccine for HIV is perhaps our best hope
of eradicating this terrible disease and stemming the
tide of pain and desolation it has wrought. The global
community has joined together in making the development
of an HIV vaccine a top international priority. Within
the next decade, we hope to have the means to stop this
deadly virus, but until we reach that day we must
remain strong in our crusade to prevent the spread of
HIV and AIDS and to care for those living with the
disease. In this way we can best honor the memory of
the many loved ones we have lost to AIDS.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, WILLIAM J. CLINTON, President of the
United States of America, by virtue of the authority
vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United
States, do hereby proclaim December 1, 1998, as World
AIDS Day. I invite the Governors of the States, the
Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, officials of the other
territories subject to the jurisdiction of the United
States, and the American people to join me in
reaffirming our commitment to defeating HIV and AIDS. I
encourage every American to participate in appropriate
commemorative programs and ceremonies in workplaces,
houses of worship, and other community centers and to
reach out to protect and educate our children and to
help and comfort all people who are living with HIV and
AIDS.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
first day of December, in the year of our Lord nineteen
hundred and ninety-eight, and of the Independence of
the United States of America the two hundred and
twenty-third.
(Presidential Sig.)
[FR Doc. 98-32461
Filed 12-4-98; 8:45 am]
Billing code 3195-01-P
