“…we
can end this pandemic. We can beat this disease. We can win this
fight. We just have to keep at it, steady, persistent
-- today, tomorrow, every day until we get to zero. And as long as I
have the honor of being your President, that’s what this administration
is going to keep doing.”
--President Obama, World AIDS Day, December 1, 2011
As the 19th
International AIDS Conference comes to the U.S. for the first time
since 1990 -- thanks to bipartisan
action by Presidents Obama and Bush and the Congress to lift the ban on
people living with HIV entering the country -- we are at a tipping
point in the fight against AIDS. Under the President’s leadership, the
Administration has increased overall funding
to combat HIV/AIDS to record levels. We have launched the first
comprehensive National HIV/AIDS Strategy for the United States to
prevent and treat HIV in America. Globally, the Obama Administration has
committed to treating 6 million people by the end of
2013 and is increasing the impact and sustainability of our
investments.
Senior
Obama Administration Officials will participate in the International
AIDS Conference, including: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton;
Secretary of Health and Human
Services Kathleen Sebelius; U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator Ambassador
Eric Goosby; Director of the White House Office of National AIDS Policy
Grant Colfax; Anthony Fauci,
Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, NIH; and others.
Continuing
his personal engagement on this issue, the President will provide a
brief video message to welcome Conference attendees from around the
world to Washington. The
video will be played at the Conference venue and will be made available
in coming days at
www.whitehouse.gov. In addition, the White House will also host a
reception on July 26th to honor those people living with HIV and to thank men and women who have been fighting
with dignity on the frontlines against this disease. Further details about that event will be provided at a later date.
For more information on the Obama Administration’s efforts to combat HIV/AIDS, see:
www.whitehouse.gov/onap and
www.aids.gov.