World AIDS Day, 2017

Proclamation 9680 of November 30, 2017

World AIDS Day, 2017

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

The first documented cases of the human
immunodeficiency virus infection (HIV) and acquired
immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) 36 years ago became
the leading edge of an epidemic that swept across the
United States and around the globe, devastating
millions of individuals, families, and communities. As
a Nation, we felt fear and uncertainty as we struggled
to understand this new disease. In the decades since--
through public and private American leadership,
innovation, investment, and compassion--we have ushered
in a new, hopeful era of prevention and treatment.
Today, on World AIDS Day, we honor those who have lost
their lives to AIDS, we celebrate the remarkable
progress we have made in combatting this disease, and
we reaffirm our ongoing commitment to end AIDS as a
public health threat.

Since the beginning of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, more than
76 million people around the world have become infected
with HIV and 35 million have died from AIDS. As of
2014, 1.1 million people in the United States are
living with HIV. On this day, we pray for all those
living with HIV, and those who have lost loved ones to
AIDS.

As we remember those who have died and those who are
suffering, we commend the immense effort people have
made to control and end the HIV/AIDS epidemic. In the
United States, sustained public and private investments
in HIV prevention and treatment have yielded major
successes. The number of annual HIV infections fell 18
percent between 2008 and 2014, saving an estimated
$14.9 billion in lifetime medical costs. We have also
experienced successes around the globe. Through the
President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and
its data-driven investments in partnership with more
than 50 countries, we are supporting more than 13.3
million people with lifesaving antiretroviral
treatment. We remain deeply committed to supporting
adolescent girls and young women through this program,
who are up to 14 times more likely to contract HIV than
young men in some sub-Saharan African countries. Our
efforts also include the DREAMS (Determined, Resilient,
Empowered, AIDS-free, Mentored, and Safe) public-
private partnership, which has resulted in a 25-40
percent decline in new HIV infections among young women
in districts in 10 highly affected African countries
during the last 2 years.

While we have made considerable progress in recent
decades, tens of thousands of Americans are infected
with HIV every year. My Administration will continue to
invest in testing initiatives to help people who are
unaware they are living with HIV learn their status.
Internationally, we will rapidly implement the recent
PEPFAR Strategy for Accelerating HIV/AIDS Epidemic
Control (2017-2020), which uses data to guide
investments and efforts in more than 50 countries to
reach epidemic control.

Due to America's leadership and private sector
philanthropy and innovation, we have saved and improved
millions of lives and shifted the HIV/AIDS epidemic
from crisis toward control. We are proud to continue
our work with many partners, including governments,
private-sector companies, philanthropic organizations,
multilateral institutions, civil society and faith-
based organizations, people living with HIV, and many
others.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, DONALD J. TRUMP, 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, 2017, as World
AIDS Day. I urge the Governors of the States and 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
appropriate activities to remember those who have lost
their lives to AIDS and to provide support and
compassion to those living with HIV.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
thirtieth day of November, in the year of our Lord two
thousand seventeen, and of the Independence of the
United States of America the two hundred and forty-
second.