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 coverage¹ because of a preexisting condition and by creating a marketplace where people with HIV/AIDS can buy affordable² 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（不同，不一致） by combating the disease in communities where the need is greatest.  (Applause.)

We all know the statistics.  Gay and bisexual（两性的，雌雄同体的） 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（流行的，普遍的） beyond our borders.  And they must be pursued by a government that is acting³ as one.  So we need to make sure all our efforts are coordinated⁴ 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 expertise⁵（专门知识，专门技术） to the fight.  It requires us to use every source of information –- from TV to film to the Internet -– to promote AIDS awareness⁶.  It requires community leaders to embrace all -- and not just some -- who are affected⁷ 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 scourge⁸, 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（公开，揭露） her diagnosis⁹ 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（逐渐灌输，徐徐滴入） within him a sense of responsibility, then how can we expect him to take the precautions（防范，预警） necessary to protect himself and others?  (Applause.)

When we continue, as a community of nations, to tolerate poverty and inequality and injustice¹⁰ 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 equitable¹¹ 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