[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 232 (Wednesday, December 3, 1997)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 64127-64128]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-31893]
[[Page 64125]]
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Part VI
The President
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Proclamation 7056--World AIDS Day, 1997
Presidential Documents
Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 232 / Wednesday, December 3, 1997 /
Presidential Documents
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Title 3--
The President
[[Page 64127]]
Proclamation 7056 of December 1, 1997
World AIDS Day, 1997
By the President of the United States of America
A Proclamation
For more than 15 years, America and the world have
faced the challenges posed by HIV and AIDS. This
devastating disease respects no borders and does not
discriminate. In every city, town, and community, we
have lost sons and daughters, brothers and sisters,
mothers and fathers, life partners and friends. HIV and
AIDS have affected us all, regardless of income,
region, gender, race, religion, sexual orientation, or
age. Sadly, both the number of people living with AIDS
and the number of new HIV infections is rising
worldwide. This year, as we observe the tenth World
AIDS Day, we recognize with particular concern the toll
HIV and AIDS continue to take on our children and
youth.
The statistics are heartbreaking. In America alone,
more than 7,500 children under the age of 13 have been
diagnosed with AIDS. Every hour of every day, two more
Americans under the age of 21 become infected with HIV.
Around the world, more than 1 million children are
living with HIV and AIDS. Twelve hundred children die
of AIDS each day, even as 1,600 more become infected
with the HIV virus. Compounding this tragedy is the
terrible reality that many of the world's young people
who are living with HIV and AIDS do not have access to
the life-extending drugs and medical protocols that our
scientists and doctors have developed. There is also a
critical shortage of prescription drugs suitable for
children suffering from pediatric HIV and AIDS. Of the
14 approved drugs for adults and adolescents, only five
are approved for children.
From the earliest days of my Administration, we have
sought to meet the challenges posed by AIDS with
increased resources and action. I am proud of our
success, with the cooperation of the Congress, in
dramatically increasing funding for AIDS prevention
measures and research. Such programs and research have
helped to slow the spread of HIV and AIDS and have made
possible the production of new drugs that are extending
the lives of people with HIV and AIDS here at home and
around the world.
But our progress against the scourge of AIDS has not
been the result of government action alone. We have
been able to make these great strides in understanding
and treating HIV and AIDS thanks in large part to the
hard work and commitment of thousands of researchers,
health care providers, and clinical trial participants.
I am proud as well of the resounding response of
courage, compassion, responsibility, and love that the
AIDS crisis has brought forth from our people. The
lesbian and gay community, particularly in the early
years of this epidemic, energized existing
organizations and created new institutions to respond
to the unmet needs of those living with HIV and AIDS.
Educators and activists, members of religious and civic
groups, business and labor organizations, and tens of
thousands of other men and women of goodwill have
joined together to comfort the afflicted and bring an
end to this disease.
We can rejoice in our progress, but we cannot rest. In
May, I announced a new HIV vaccine initiative, and I am
pleased that the global community has joined together
in making the development of this vaccine a top
international priority. Within 10 years, we hope to
have the means to stop
[[Page 64128]]
this deadly virus. But until we reach that day, I call
on every American to remain with us on our crusade to
eradicate this terrible epidemic and care for those
living with AIDS along the way. As we mark World AIDS
Day this year, we must continue to provide care for the
sick and ensure that all have access to the treatment
they need. And one of our most important tasks now is
to strengthen our efforts to educate young people about
HIV and AIDS and to make available to them and others
at high risk effective prevention programs. By giving
our children real hope for a future free from the
shadows of HIV and AIDS, we can best commemorate the
many loved ones we have already lost to the disease
during its long and tragic course. May their enduring
memory light our journey toward a vaccine for HIV and a
final cure for 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, 1997, 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
and to helping those who live with the disease. 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 our children and to help all
people who are living with 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-seven, and of the Independence of
the United States of America the two hundred and
twenty-second.
(Presidential Sig.)
[FR Doc. 97-31893
Filed 12-2-97; 11:02 am]
Billing code 3195-01-P