IV
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. RES. 331
Supporting the goals and ideals of ‘‘National Youth HIV/AIDS Awareness
Day’’.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
APRIL10, 2025
Mr. P
OCAN(for himself, Ms. CHU, Mr. COHEN, Mr. DAVISof Illinois, Mr.
E
VANSof Pennsylvania, Mr. JOHNSONof Georgia, Ms. KELLYof Illinois,
Mr. N
ADLER, Ms. OCASIO-CORTEZ, Ms. SEWELL, Ms. SIMON, Ms.
W
ATERS, Mrs. WATSONCOLEMAN, and Ms. JOHNSONof Texas) sub-
mitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on
Energy and Commerce
RESOLUTION
Supporting the goals and ideals of ‘‘National Youth HIV/
AIDS Awareness Day’’.
Whereas ‘‘National Youth HIV/AIDS Awareness Day’’ is a
nationwide observance that calls on people to take action
to invest in the health, education, and leadership of
young people;
Whereas, more than 40 years into the epidemic, the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that in the
United States more than 1,189,700 people are living with
HIV, and 30,635 people were diagnosed with HIV in the
United States in 2020;
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•HRES 331 IH
Whereas, in 2020, youth aged 13 to 24 years composed 20
percent of all new HIV diagnoses in the United States;
Whereas young people living with HIV are the least likely of
any age group to be retained in care and have a sup-
pressed viral load;
Whereas 56 percent of young people living with HIV ages 13
to 24 are unaware of their HIV status;
Whereas African-American youth are most impacted by the
epidemic, representing 54 percent of new transmissions
in young people ages 13 to 24;
Whereas young African-American gay and bisexual men are
even more severely affected, representing 53 percent
(2,740) of new HIV diagnoses among young gay and bi-
sexual men;
Whereas young gay and bisexual men accounted for 84 per-
cent (5,161) of all new HIV diagnoses in people aged 13
to 24 in 2020;
Whereas the National HIV/AIDS Strategy expands the fact
that youth experience worse HIV outcomes on status
awareness, pre-exposure prophylaxis uptake, and health
outcomes;
Whereas the National HIV/AIDS Strategy recommends chil-
dren and young adults with HIV need tailored and often
more intensive medical and support services to support
them as they grow and become young adults;
Whereas the Division of Adolescent and School Health is the
only Federal program supporting HIV prevention for
adolescents in schools;
Whereas the Nation’s largest Federal program dedicated to
providing care and treatment for people living with HIV
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•HRES 331 IH
was named after Ryan White, a teenager from Indiana
who helped educate a Nation about HIV and AIDS in the
1980s;
Whereas the Ryan White Part D Program is one of the na-
tional efforts to link young people living with HIV to
medical care and support services;
Whereas the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act pro-
vides youth, including those living with or impacted by
HIV and AIDS, better access to health care coverage,
more health insurance options, additional funding for sex
education, a prohibition against denying people living
with HIV access to health care, and expanded access to
Medicaid which will support more young people living
with HIV receiving care; and
Whereas April 10 of each year is now recognized as ‘‘Na-
tional Youth HIV/AIDS Awareness Day’’: Now, there-
fore, be it
Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 1
(1) supports the goals and ideals of ‘‘National 2
Youth HIV/AIDS Awareness Day’’; 3
(2) encourages State and local governments, in-4
cluding their public health agencies, education agen-5
cies, schools, and media organizations to recognize 6
and support such a day; 7
(3) supports young people’s right to education, 8
prevention, treatment, and care, and to live without 9
criminalization, discrimination, oppression, and stig-10
ma; 11
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•HRES 331 IH
(4) promotes up-to-date, inclusive, culturally re-1
sponsible, and medically accurate information about 2
HIV, such as pre-exposure prophylaxis PreP, in sex 3
education curricula to ensure that all young people 4
are educated about HIV, as called for in the Na-5
tional HIV/AIDS Strategy; 6
(5) supports removal of HIV laws that are sci-7
entifically inaccurate and unfairly criminalize young 8
people living with HIV for behaviors that are con-9
sensual or have no risk of transmission; 10
(6) urges youth-friendly and accessible health 11
care services, especially access to medications such 12
as pre-exposure prophylaxis, post-exposure prophy-13
laxis, and antiretroviral therapy without parental 14
consent, to better provide for the early identification 15
of HIV through voluntary routine testing, and to 16
connect those in need to clinically and culturally ap-17
propriate care and treatment as early as possible; 18
(7) supports the increase of funding for pro-19
grams that support people impacted by and living 20
with HIV, including the Centers for Disease Control 21
and Prevention’s Division of Adolescent and School 22
Health, the Division of STD Prevention, and the Di-23
vision of HIV Prevention, the Ryan White HIV/ 24
AIDS Program, the Medicaid program, AIDS Drug 25
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•HRES 331 IH
Assistance Programs, and programs that support 1
medical mentorship, peer navigation, educating com-2
munities on testing and treatment options, and peo-3
ple accessing PrEP, and ensure a smoother transi-4
tion to adult HIV care; 5
(8) recommends a comprehensive prevention 6
and treatment strategy that empowers young people, 7
parents, public health workers, educators, faith lead-8
ers, and other stakeholders to fully engage with their 9
communities and families to help decrease violence, 10
discrimination, and stigma toward individuals who 11
disclose their sexual orientation or HIV status; 12
(9) calls for a generation free of HIV stigma in 13
a manner that prioritizes youth leadership and devel-14
opment in order to ensure youth involvement in deci-15
sions which impact their health and well-being as 16
well as advance a pipeline for the next generation of 17
HIV and AIDS doctors, advocates, educators, re-18
searchers, and other professionals; and 19
(10) recognizes the direct impact from harmful 20
legislative efforts seeking to restrict bodily autonomy 21
for young people, such as restrictions on abortion 22
and birth control access and bans on transgender 23
health care, which negatively impact youth access to 24
nonstigmatizing HIV prevention, education, con-25
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•HRES 331 IH
fidential testing and treatment, and increases risk 1
for criminalization. 2
Æ
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