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News Release

Statement by Mike Leavitt Secretary of Health and Human Services Regarding World AIDS Day

World AIDS Day 2005 reminds us of the tragic scope of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, the advances we have made -- and, most importantly, the work yet to be done. We in this department and across the federal government, under President Bush�s leadership in the fight against AIDS, mark this day with a renewed commitment.

The scope is clear. Since 1981, AIDS has claimed the lives of more than 20 million people. It has reached around the world, and there is hardly a demographic group that is without some cases. Worldwide, more than 40 million people live with the virus.

It is also clear we have made much progress. At one time, a diagnosis of being HIV-positive was tantamount to a death sentence. Now, because of advances in drug treatments and other medical care, those who are HIV-positive can have many active and productive years.

But we have much yet to do. In 2004, between 4.6 million and 6.4 million people worldwide became infected -- more than in any year before. In the United States, more than 1 million people live with the disease, and one-quarter of them do not realize they are infected.

These facts amount to a worldwide call to renewed action against HIV/AIDS. So the Department of Health and Human Services takes as its World AIDS Day theme this year, �Action Makes a Difference.�

Our actions take many forms:

• Laboratory scientists at the National Institutes of Health join colleagues at other facilities around the world in working toward new treatments for HIV disease and its complications, new means of protection against the virus, and ultimately a vaccine and a cure.
• Epidemiologists at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention track HIV/AIDS as it shifts through the population of the United States and the rest of the world. Armed with that knowledge, health educators in and out of the department target prevention warnings about unsafe sex and about drug use, and guide those who are ill toward treatment.
• Independent experts such as the members of HHS� Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS assess the state of the pandemic and recommend policies such as those in its new report. I thank the council members for their work, and I will give the report careful consideration. The report is available on the Web at http://www.pacha.gov/pdf/PACHArev113005.pdf.
• Through the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, HHS funds treatment for more than half of all Americans living with HIV/AIDS, and up to 90 percent of infected children. Additionally, we in HHS are working with Congress according to President Bush�s principles to reauthorize the Ryan White CARE Act, which funds primary health care and support services for patients with HIV/AIDS.
• Our support takes other forms, such as clinical care through the Indian Health Service and funds for HIV rapid tests at eligible service providers for the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

However, we know this department is part of broader administration efforts. HHS staff members work with state and local groups and with other federal agencies, including the State Department�s Office of the Global AIDS Coordinator, which leads implementation of the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. The Emergency Plan embraces all resources and international activities of the U.S. government to combat the global HIV/AIDS pandemic, including U.S. bilateral programs and U.S. contributions to multilateral initiatives. In addition, today President Bush announced the Emergency Plan�s New Partners Initiative to help faith-based and community organizations in the developing world have access to American assistance, with grants for prevention and care services.

As the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS points out, we must commit ourselves to victory. The virus is a tenacious adversary, but it is preventable and treatable, and it cannot be accepted as inevitable. As long as HIV/AIDS remains, we will continue to take action against it -- because we know action makes a difference.