奥巴马演讲:奥巴马公布抗击艾滋病战略
The President speaks about the just released National HIV/AIDS Strategy and his commitment to focusing the public’s attention on ending the domestic HIV epidemic.
【Transcript】
THE PRESIDENT: Hello, everybody! Hello! (Applause.) Hello. Hello, hello, hello. Hello. Well, good evening, everybody. This is a pretty feisty group here. (Laughter.)
AUDIENCE MEMBER: We love you, President!
THE PRESIDENT: Love you back. Thank you. (Applause.) Thank you. Well, it is a privilege to speak with all of you. Welcome to the White House.
Let me begin by welcoming the Cabinet Secretaries who are here. I know I saw at least one of them, Kathleen Sebelius, our outstanding Secretary of Health and Human Services. (Applause.) I want to thank all the members of Congress who are present and all the distinguished guests that are here — that includes all of you.
In particular, I want to recognize Ambassador Eric Goosby, our Global AIDS Coordinator. (Applause.) Eric’s leadership of the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief is doing so much to save so many lives around the world. He will be leading our delegation to the International AIDS Conference in Vienna next week. And so I’m grateful for his outstanding service. (Applause.)
And I want to also thank the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS. (Applause.) Thank you — and the Federal HIV Interagency Working Group for all the work that they are doing. So thank you very much. (Applause.)
Now, it’s been nearly 30 years since a CDC publication called Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report first documented five cases of an illness that would come to be known as HIV/AIDS. In the beginning, of course, it was known as the “gay disease” –- a disease surrounded by fear and misunderstanding; a disease we were too slow to confront and too slow to turn back. In the decades since -– as epidemics have emerged in countries throughout Africa and around the globe -– we’ve grown better equipped, as individuals and as nations, to fight this disease.
From activists, researchers, community leaders who’ve waged a battle against AIDS for so long, including many of you here in this room, we have learned what we can do to stop the spread of the disease. We’ve learned what we can do to extend the lives of people living with it. And we’ve been reminded of our obligations to one another -– obligations that, like the virus itself, transcend barriers of race or station or sexual orientation or faith or nationality.
So the question is not whether we know what to do, but whether we will do it. (Applause.) Whether we will fulfill those obligations; whether we will marshal our resources and the political will to confront a tragedy that is preventable.
All of us are here because we are committed to that cause. We’re here because we believe that while HIV transmission rates in this country are not as high as they once were, every new case is one case too many. We’re here because we believe in an America where those living with HIV/AIDS are not viewed with suspicion, but treated with respect; where they’re provided the medications and health care they need; where they can live out their lives as fully as their health allows.
And we’re here because of the extraordinary men and women whose stories compel us to stop this scourge. I’m going to call out a few people here — people like Benjamin Banks, who right now is completing a master’s degree in public health, planning a family with his wife, and deciding whether to run another half-marathon. Ben has also been HIV-positive for 29 years -– a virus he contracted during cancer surgery as a child. So inspiring others to fight the disease has become his mission.
We’re here because of people like Craig Washington, who after seeing what was happening in his community -– friends passing away; life stories sanitized, as he put it, at funerals; homophobia, all the discrimination that surrounded the disease –- Craig got tested, disclosed his status, with the support of his partner and his family, and took up the movement for prevention and awareness in which he is a leader today.
We’re here because of people like Linda Scruggs. (Applause.) Linda learned she was HIV-positive about two decades ago when she went in for prenatal care. Then and there, she decided to turn her life around, and she left a life of substance abuse behind, she became an advocate for women, she empowered them to break free from what she calls the bondage of secrecy. She inspired her son, who was born healthy, to become an AIDS activist himself.
We’re here because of Linda and Craig and Ben, and because of over 1 million Americans living with HIV/AIDS and the nearly 600,000 Americans who’ve lost their lives to the disease. It’s on their behalf -– and on the behalf of all Americans -– that we began a national dialogue about combating AIDS at the beginning of this administration.
In recent months, we’ve held 14 community discussions. We’ve spoken with over 4,200 people. We’ve received over 1,000 recommendations on the White House website, devising an approach not from the top down but from the bottom up.
And today, we’re releasing our National HIV/AIDS Strategy, which is the product — (applause) — which is the product of these conversations, and conversations with HIV-positive Americans and health care providers, with business leaders, with faith leaders, and the best policy and scientific minds in our country.
Now, I know that this strategy comes at a difficult time for Americans living with HIV/AIDS, because we’ve got cash-strapped states who are being forced to cut back on essentials, including assistance for AIDS drugs. I know the need is great. And that’s why we’ve increased federal assistance each year that I’ve been in office, providing an emergency supplement this year to help people get the drugs they need, even as we pursue a national strategy that focuses on three central goals.
First goal: prevention. We can’t afford to rely on any single prevention method alone, so our strategy promotes a comprehensive approach to reducing the number of new HIV infections -– from expanded testing so people can learn their status, to education so people can curb risky behaviors, to drugs that can prevent a mother from transmitting a virus to her child.
To support our new direction, we’re investing $30 million in new money, and I’ve committed to working with Congress to make sure these investments continue in the future.
The second —
AUDIENCE MEMBER: Mr. President —
THE PRESIDENT: Let’s — hold on — you can talk to me after — we’ll be able to talk after I speak. That’s why I invited you here, right? So you don’t have to yell, right? (Applause.) Thank you.
Second is treatment. To extend lives and stem transmission, we need to make sure every HIV-positive American gets the medical care that they need. (Applause.) And by stopping health insurers from denying coverage because of a preexisting condition and by creating a marketplace where people with HIV/AIDS can buy affordable care, the health insurance reforms I signed into law this year are an important step forward.
And we’ll build on those reforms, while also understanding that when people have trouble putting food on the table or finding a place to live, it’s virtually impossible to keep them on lifesaving therapies. (Applause.)
Now, the third goal is reducing health disparities by combating the disease in communities where the need is greatest. (Applause.)
We all know the statistics. Gay and bisexual men make up a small percentage of the population, but over 50 percent of new infections. For African Americans, it’s 13 percent of the population — nearly 50 percent of the people living with HIV/AIDS. HIV infection rates among black women are almost 20 times what they are for white women. So, such health disparities call on us to make a greater effort as a nation to offer testing and treatment to the people who need it the most. (Applause.)
So reducing new HIV infections; improving care for people living with HIV/AIDS; narrowing health disparities — these are the central goals of our national strategy. They must be pursued hand in hand with our global public health strategy to roll back the pandemic beyond our borders. And they must be pursued by a government that is acting as one. So we need to make sure all our efforts are coordinated within the federal government and across federal, state and local governments -– because that’s how we’ll achieve results that let Americans live longer and healthier lives. (Applause.)
So, yes, government has to do its part. But our ability to combat HIV/AIDS doesn’t rest on government alone. It requires companies to contribute funding and expertise to the fight. It requires us to use every source of information –- from TV to film to the Internet -– to promote AIDS awareness. It requires community leaders to embrace all — and not just some — who are affected by the disease. It requires each of us to act responsibly in our own lives, and it requires all of us to look inward — to ask not only how we can end this scourge, but also how we can root out the inequities and the attitudes on which this scourge thrives.
When a person living with HIV/AIDS is treated as if she’s done something wrong, when she’s viewed as being somehow morally compromised, how can we expect her to get tested and disclose her diagnosis to others? (Applause.)
When we fail to offer a child a proper education, when we fail to provide him with accurate medical information and instill within him a sense of responsibility, then how can we expect him to take the precautions necessary to protect himself and others? (Applause.)
When we continue, as a community of nations, to tolerate poverty and inequality and injustice in our midst, we don’t stand up for how women are treated in certain countries, how can we expect to end the disease –- a pandemic -– that feeds on such conditions?
So fighting HIV/AIDS in America and around the world will require more than just fighting the virus. It will require a broader effort to make life more just and equitable for the people who inhabit this Earth. And that’s a cause to which I’ll be firmly committed so long as I have the privilege of serving as President.
So to all of you who have been out there in the field, working on this issues day in, day out, I know sometimes it’s thankless work. But the truth is, you are representing what’s best in all of us — our regard for one another, our willingness to care for one another. I thank you for that. I’m grateful for you. You’re going to have a partner in me.
God bless you and God bless the United States of America. (Applause.)
END
6:23 P.M. EDT
【相关中文报道】
奥巴马公布抗击艾滋病战略
美国总统贝拉克·奥巴马13日公布抗击艾滋病战略，着眼减少新感染者人数、关怀艾滋病病毒携带者、消除社会不平等。
战略提出明确目标，力争今后5年把国内新增艾滋病感染人数降低25%。
减新增
新战略将整合联邦政府、州政府、各地医疗研究机构等资源，加强对艾滋病高危感染群体的防控，在全国范围内加大预防艾滋病宣传教育。
奥巴马说，过去数十年，全球抗击艾滋病努力不断完善，防控思路日益清晰。
“但问题不在于我们是否知道该做什么，而在于是否去践行。”他说，“我们之所以(公布新战略)，是因为尽管美国艾滋病感染率低于先前水平，但每一例新增病例都是(人们不希望看到的)多余。”
战略目标之一是今后5年把新增艾滋病感染人数降低25%，“使美国成为一个新增艾滋病病例罕见的国家”。
美国疾病控制和预防中心数据显示，现阶段，美国国内艾滋病病毒携带者超过100万，每年新增感染者大约5.6万。
释关怀
除着力减少新增感染病例外，新战略还着眼于给予艾滋病病毒携带者更多医疗和人文关怀。
战略明确，不论年龄、性别、族群、性取向、收入水平，艾滋病病毒携带者将“不受限地获得高质量、得以延续生命的医疗关怀，远离耻辱和歧视”。
针对国内艾滋病病毒携带者病情自我知情率低的状况，新战略制定目标，打算到2015年将掌握自身病情的艾滋病病毒携带者人数比例提高至90%。
根据美国疾病控制和预防中心数据，现阶段，美国每5名艾滋病病毒携带者中就有1人不知道自己已感染这种免疫缺陷疾病。
新战略还期望以今年通过的奥巴马政府医疗改革法案为平台，加大对艾滋病感染高危群体的防控。 新华社特稿
反应
划拨3000万美元专项资金
尽管新战略受到诸多抗击艾滋病团体欢迎，但实现战略目标的资金支持可能面临困难。
新战略文本内容以“联邦政府财政预算吃紧”为由，没有公布达成战略目标所需资金数额，强调“维持现行资金支持水平有可能较先前获得更好效果，但追加拨款的请求应受到重视”。
德新社报道，现阶段，美国每年用于艾滋病防控和研究的资金大约190亿美元。
美国卫生与公众服务部长凯瑟琳·西贝利厄斯13日宣布，划拨3000万美元专项资金，用于抗击艾滋病。
但西贝利厄斯说，今后每年用于艾滋病防控和研究的资金超过190亿美元不大可能实现。
“毫无疑问，没有新的大钱罐。”她接受路透社记者采访时说，“我们不能指望(追加拨款)通过整合新资源得到解决。”
闫洁
声音
我们出台新战略，是因为我们希望艾滋病病毒携带者生活在这样一个美国：不用忍受怀疑目光，而是受到尊重，获得他们所需的医疗和卫生服务。
——— 美国总统贝拉克·奥巴马 （本段文字来源：南方都市报）
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