Supporting the goals and ideals of "National Youth HIV/AIDS Awareness Day".

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 331 Introduced in House (IH)]

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119th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 331

Supporting the goals and ideals of ``National Youth HIV/AIDS Awareness
                                 Day''.

_______________________________________________________________________

                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 10, 2025

Mr. Pocan (for himself, Ms. Chu, Mr. Cohen, Mr. Davis of Illinois, Mr.
 Evans of Pennsylvania, Mr. Johnson of Georgia, Ms. Kelly of Illinois,
Mr. Nadler, Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, Ms. Sewell, Ms. Simon, Ms. Waters, Mrs.
   Watson Coleman, and Ms. Johnson of Texas) submitted 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;
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 suppressed 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 bisexual men;
Whereas young gay and bisexual men accounted for 84 percent (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 children 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 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 national efforts to link
        young people living with HIV to medical care and support services;
Whereas the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act provides 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 ``National Youth HIV/AIDS
        Awareness Day'': Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
            (1) supports the goals and ideals of ``National Youth HIV/
        AIDS Awareness Day'';
            (2) encourages State and local governments, including their
        public health agencies, education agencies, schools, and media
        organizations to recognize and support such a day;
            (3) supports young people's right to education, prevention,
        treatment, and care, and to live without criminalization,
        discrimination, oppression, and stigma;
            (4) promotes up-to-date, inclusive, culturally responsible,
        and medically accurate information about HIV, such as pre-
        exposure prophylaxis PreP, in sex education curricula to ensure
        that all young people are educated about HIV, as called for in
        the National HIV/AIDS Strategy;
            (5) supports removal of HIV laws that are scientifically
        inaccurate and unfairly criminalize young people living with
        HIV for behaviors that are consensual or have no risk of
        transmission;
            (6) urges youth-friendly and accessible health care
        services, especially access to medications such as pre-exposure
        prophylaxis, post-exposure prophylaxis, and antiretroviral
        therapy without parental consent, to better provide for the
        early identification of HIV through voluntary routine testing,
        and to connect those in need to clinically and culturally
        appropriate care and treatment as early as possible;
            (7) supports the increase of funding for programs that
        support people impacted by and living with HIV, including the
        Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Division of
        Adolescent and School Health, the Division of STD Prevention,
        and the Division of HIV Prevention, the Ryan White HIV/AIDS
        Program, the Medicaid program, AIDS Drug Assistance Programs,
        and programs that support medical mentorship, peer navigation,
        educating communities on testing and treatment options, and
        people accessing PrEP, and ensure a smoother transition to
        adult HIV care;
            (8) recommends a comprehensive prevention and treatment
        strategy that empowers young people, parents, public health
        workers, educators, faith leaders, and other stakeholders to
        fully engage with their communities and families to help
        decrease violence, discrimination, and stigma toward
        individuals who disclose their sexual orientation or HIV
        status;
            (9) calls for a generation free of HIV stigma in a manner
        that prioritizes youth leadership and development in order to
        ensure youth involvement in decisions which impact their health
        and well-being as well as advance a pipeline for the next
        generation of HIV and AIDS doctors, advocates, educators,
        researchers, and other professionals; and
            (10) recognizes the direct impact from harmful legislative
        efforts seeking to restrict bodily autonomy for young people,
        such as restrictions on abortion and birth control access and
        bans on transgender health care, which negatively impact youth
        access to nonstigmatizing HIV prevention, education,
        confidential testing and treatment, and increases risk for
        criminalization.
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