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Statement on World AIDS Day

Statement

Date: Dec. 1, 2011
Issues: Foreign Aid Health and Health Care

Today is a day to honor friends and loved ones lost, support those living with this terrible disease, and recommit ourselves to fighting this crisis. This year marks 30 years after the first discovery of AIDS in the United States. Three decades later, we have the lowest rate of new HIV infections in 14 years, have made game-changing scientific breakthroughs, and are reducing the burdens of this illness on countries around the world. I'm very proud of the groups and individuals in Maine who have helped make this happen.

But there is still so much to do. Last year, 390,000 children were infected with HIV worldwide. Thirty-four million people are living with HIV, 1.2 million of them in the United States. Only half the people who need medicine can get it. And 1 in 5 people with HIV in the United States don't even know they have it, putting their and other's lives at risk. Today, we celebrate our victories and mourn our losses. Tomorrow, we keep working to rid the world of this nightmare.


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