World AIDS Day Statement by Secretary Tommy G. Thompson

December 1, 2003 - On this year's World AIDS Day, each of us should think about what we can do to stem the tide of this globally threatening disease and turn it back.

Both in the United States and worldwide, we need more volunteers to help care for the sick, to participate in public information and awareness campaigns, and to help spread the word on prevention and treatment. People need to know when they should be tested and should know their own HIV status. Our efforts must start with knowledge, because HIV/AIDS has no power over a well-informed person who makes safe, educated decisions regarding his or her health.

Worldwide, over 40 million people are suffering from HIV, particularly in developing countries in Africa, and almost five million new infections have occurred in 2003 alone. The United States has an estimated 900,000 HIV-positive individuals, one-third of whom do not know they are infected.

In response, the Department of Health and Human Services, in partnership with Ambassador Randall L. Tobias and his Office of the Global AIDS Coordinator, is expanding the fight against the pandemic on both the domestic and global fronts. President Bush has made an unprecedented commitment of funds to fight HIV/AIDS abroad.

He has committed $15 billion over five years for his Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, including $10 billion in new money, of which $1 billion is a multi-year pledge to the Global Fund to Fight HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria. The United States has always been, and remains, the largest donor to the Global Fund, with a total pledge of over $1.6 billion, roughly 35 percent of all the resources promised to the organization.

At home and abroad, HHS is increasing the support devoted to HIV/AIDS prevention and research. I am confident that our mission to Africa will help produce further results and help me bring back fresh ideas. And while I am in Africa, Surgeon General Richard Carmona will address HHS employees on the effects of the epidemic in the United States, and then represent the United States at an HIV/AIDS conference in Latin America.

The Bush Administration spent a total of more than $16 billion last year on HIV/AIDS, and has asked for more than $18 billion this year for domestic and international AIDS programs. The Department of Health and Human Services supports a wide range of prevention, testing, treatment, and research programs, and is increasing its commitment to those agencies and initiatives that manage these programs, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; the National Institutes of Health; and the Health Resources and Services Administration, which administers the Ryan White CARE Act.

These combined efforts have provided treatment for the poor, research into medicines that lengthen and improve the lives of those infected, expanded prevention efforts, and spread the benefits of these programs to other countries, particularly those where the need is greatest.

For more information, I invite Americans to call the HHS Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National AIDS Hotline at 1-800-342-2437 or visit the Federal World AIDS Day Web page at http://www.omhrc.gov/worldaidsday/.

Last revised: August 16, 2007