---
kind: "section"
citation: "22 U.S.C. § 7651"
title: "22"
title_heading: "Foreign Relations and Intercourse"
number: "7651"
heading: "Findings"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/22/7651"
units:
  - "Chapter 83 — United States Leadership Against Hiv/aids, Tuberculosis, and Malaria"
  - "Subchapter III — Bilateral Efforts"
  - "Part B — Assistance for Women, Children, and Families"
---

# §7651. Findings


Congress makes the following findings:

- (1) Approximately 2,000 children around the world are infected each day with [HIV](/usc/22/7602.md?p=5) through mother-to-child transmission. Transmission can occur during pregnancy, labor, and delivery or through breast feeding. Over 90 percent of these cases are in developing nations with little or no access to public health facilities.
- (2) Mother-to-child transmission is largely preventable with the proper application of pharmaceuticals, therapies, and other public health interventions.
- (3) Certain antiretroviral drugs reduce mother-to-child transmission by nearly 50 percent. Universal availability of this drug could prevent up to 400,000 infections per year and dramatically reduce the number of [AIDS](/usc/22/7602.md?p=1)-related deaths.
- (4) At the United Nations Special Session on [HIV/AIDS](/usc/22/7602.md?p=6) in June 2001, the United States committed to the specific goals with respect to the prevention of mother-to-child transmission, including the goals of reducing the proportion of infants infected with [HIV](/usc/22/7602.md?p=5) by 20 percent by the year 2005 and by 50 percent by the year 2010, as specified in the Declaration of Commitment on [HIV/AIDS](/usc/22/7602.md?p=6) adopted by the United Nations General Assembly at the Special Session.
- (5) Several United States Government agencies including the United States Agency for International Development and the Centers for Disease Control are already supporting programs to prevent mother-to-child transmission in resource-poor nations and have the capacity to expand these programs rapidly by working closely with foreign governments and nongovernmental organizations.
- (6) Efforts to prevent mother-to-child transmission can provide the basis for a broader response that includes care and treatment of mothers, fathers, and other family members who are infected with [HIV](/usc/22/7602.md?p=5) or living with [AIDS](/usc/22/7602.md?p=1).
- (7) [HIV/AIDS](/usc/22/7602.md?p=6) has devastated the lives of countless children and families across the globe. Since the epidemic began, an estimated 13,200,000 children under the age of 15 have been orphaned by [AIDS](/usc/22/7602.md?p=1), that is they have lost their mother or both parents to the disease. The Joint United Nations Program on [HIV/AIDS](/usc/22/7602.md?p=6) (UNAIDS) estimates that this number will double by the year 2010.
- (8) [HIV/AIDS](/usc/22/7602.md?p=6) also targets young people between the ages of 15 to 24, particularly young women, many of whom carry the burden of caring for family members living with [HIV/AIDS](/usc/22/7602.md?p=6). An estimated 10,300,000 young people are now living with [HIV/AIDS](/usc/22/7602.md?p=6). One-half of all new infections are occurring among this age group.

## Source credit

(Pub. L. 108–25, title III, § 311, May 27, 2003, 117 Stat. 740.)