III
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. RES. 171
Supporting the goals and ideals of ‘‘National Youth HIV/AIDS Awareness
Day’’.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
APRIL10, 2025
Mr. B
LUMENTHAL (for himself, Mr. VANHOLLEN, and Mr. WYDEN) sub-
mitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on
Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
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;
Whereas, in 2020, youth aged 13 to 24 years composed 20
percent of all new HIV diagnoses in the United States;
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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 aged 13 to 24 living
with HIV are unaware of their HIV status;
Whereas African-American youth are most impacted by the
HIV epidemic, representing 54 percent of new trans-
missions in young people aged 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, in 2020, young gay and bisexual men accounted for
84 percent (5,161) of all new HIV diagnoses in young
people aged 13 to 24;
Whereas the National HIV/AIDS Strategy explains the fact
that youth experience worse HIV outcomes regarding sta-
tus awareness, pre-exposure prophylaxis uptake, and
health outcomes;
Whereas the National HIV/AIDS Strategy recommends chil-
dren and young adults with HIV receive tailored and
often more intensive medical and support services to sup-
port them as they grow and become young adults;
Whereas the Division of Adolescent and School Health within
the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is the
only Federal program supporting HIV prevention for
adolescents in schools;
Whereas the largest Federal program dedicated to providing
care and treatment for people living with HIV was named
after Ryan White, a teenager from Indiana who helped
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educate the United States about HIV and AIDS in the
1980s;
Whereas the grant program under part D of title XXVI of
the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 300–71 et seq.;
commonly referred to as the ‘‘Ryan White Part D Pro-
gram’’) is one of the national efforts to link young people
living with HIV to medical care and support services;
Whereas the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
(Public Law 111–148) provides youth, including those
living with or impacted by HIV and AIDS, with better
access to health care coverage, more health insurance op-
tions, additional funding for sex education, and expanded
access to Medicaid and prohibits denying people living
with HIV access to health care, all of which ensures that
more young people living with HIV will receive 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 Senate— 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 the rights of young people im-8
pacted by HIV and AIDS to education, prevention, 9
treatment, and care, and to live without criminaliza-10
tion, discrimination, oppression, or stigma; 11
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(4) promotes up-to-date, inclusive, culturally re-1
sponsible, and medically accurate information about 2
HIV, such as information regarding pre-exposure 3
prophylaxis (commonly referred to as ‘‘PreP)’’, in 4
sex education curricula to ensure that all young peo-5
ple are educated about HIV, as called for in the Na-6
tional HIV/AIDS Strategy; 7
(5) supports removal of HIV laws that are sci-8
entifically inaccurate and unfairly criminalize young 9
people living with HIV for behaviors that are con-10
sensual or have no risk of transmission; 11
(6) urges youth-friendly and accessible health 12
care services, especially access to medications such 13
as PreP, post-exposure prophylaxis, and 14
antiretroviral therapy without parental consent, to 15
better provide for the early identification of HIV 16
through voluntary routine testing, and to connect 17
those in need to clinically and culturally appropriate 18
care and treatment as early as possible; 19
(7) supports increasing funding for programs 20
that support people impacted by and living with 21
HIV, including the Centers for Disease Control and 22
Prevention’s Division of Adolescent and School 23
Health, Division of STD Prevention, and Division of 24
HIV Prevention, the program under title XXVI of 25
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the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 300ff–11 1
et seq.; commonly referred to as the ‘‘Ryan White 2
HIV/AIDS Program’’), the Medicaid program, AIDS 3
drug assistance programs, and programs that sup-4
port medical mentorship, peer navigation, the edu-5
cation of communities regarding testing and treat-6
ment options, and people accessing PrEP, and en-7
sure a smoother transition to adult HIV care; 8
(8) recommends a comprehensive prevention 9
and treatment strategy that empowers young people, 10
parents, public health workers, educators, faith lead-11
ers, and other stakeholders to fully engage with their 12
communities and families to help decrease violence, 13
discrimination, and stigma toward individuals who 14
disclose their sexual orientation or HIV status; 15
(9) calls for a generation free of HIV stigma in 16
a manner that prioritizes youth leadership and devel-17
opment in order to ensure youth involvement in deci-18
sions which impact their health and well-being as 19
well as advance a pipeline for the next generation of 20
HIV and AIDS doctors, advocates, educators, re-21
searchers, and other professionals; and 22
(10) recognizes the direct impact from harmful 23
legislative efforts seeking to restrict bodily autonomy 24
for young people, such as restrictions on abortion 25
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and birth control access and bans on transgender 1
health care, which negatively impact youth access to 2
nonstigmatizing HIV prevention, education, and con-3
fidential testing and treatment, and increase risk for 4
criminalization. 5
Æ
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