Ending the HIV/AIDS Epidemic Act of 2013
A BILL
To bring an end to the spread of HIV/AIDS in the United States and around the world.
Sec. 2 Statement of policy
It is the policy of the United States to achieve an AIDS-free generation, and to—
expand access to lifesaving antiretroviral therapy for people living with HIV/AIDS and immediately link people to continuous and coordinated high-quality care when they learn they are infected with HIV;
expand targeted efforts to prevent HIV infection using a combination of effective, evidence-based approaches, including the elimination of new pediatric HIV infections worldwide, routine HIV screening, and universal access to HIV prevention tools in the communities where HIV/AIDS is most heavily concentrated;
ensure laws, policies, and regulations do not impede access to prevention, treatment, and care for people living with HIV/AIDS or at risk for acquiring HIV;
accelerate research for more efficacious HIV prevention and treatments tools, a cure, and a vaccine; and
respect the human rights and dignity of persons living with HIV/AIDS.
Sec. 3 Findings
The Congress makes the following findings:
An estimated 34,000,000 people around the world were living with HIV at the end of 2010, up from 8,000,000 in 1990.
Developing countries continue to bear the brunt of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, with sub-Saharan Africa accounting for 68 percent of all adults and children living with HIV/AIDS, 59 percent of whom are female.
Despite global efforts, 1,000 children around the world still contract HIV each day, the majority through mother-to-child transmission of HIV.
HIV prevalence among young people aged 15 to 24 has declined in many countries most impacted by HIV; nevertheless, young people still account for 42 percent of all new infections among individuals aged 15 and older.
A substantial number of HIV-positive women in HIV care and treatment programs or prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) programs experience an unplanned pregnancy.
Making contraceptive services more widely available through HIV care, treatment, and PMTCT programs would make it easier for women to coordinate their HIV-related care with their pregnancy prevention goals, and at the same time, help prevent mother-to-child HIV transmission.
In 2008, the Tom Lantos and Henry J. Hyde United States Global Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria Reauthorization Act was enacted into law, reauthorizing the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and continued United States participation and contributions to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.
The United States President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), which represents the largest commitment by any nation to combat a single disease, has saved the lives of millions of people around the world by establishing and expanding the infrastructure necessary to deliver prevention, care, and treatment services in low-resource settings.
Early detection and treatment of HIV can have significant positive health effects. New research demonstrates conclusively that treatment of individuals not only slows disease progression, but can also reduce the risk of transmission to other individuals by 96 percent.
In most countries HIV is a disease that discriminates, disproportionately affecting society’s most vulnerable. Even in generalized epidemics in which a significant share of the wider population is living with HIV/AIDS, people in vulnerable communities often have considerably higher rates of HIV infection.
Reaching men who have sex with men, transgender people, people who inject drugs, sex workers, and other vulnerable populations with effective HIV prevention and treatment is critical to bringing the AIDS epidemic under control.
In February 2013, the Institute of Medicine releases a report evaluating PEPFAR and found that PEPFAR, which has provided care and treatment for more than 5 million people, has been globally transformative, a lifeline that is restoring hope.