President Bush Discusses World AIDS Day

THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. Today is World AIDS Day, a day we reaffirm our commitment to fight HIV/AIDS at home and abroad. Thirty-three million people around the world are living with HIV, including more than one million Americans. Once again this year, to observe World AIDS Day, there is a red ribbon on the North Portico¹ of the White House. The ribbon is a symbol of our resolve to confront HIV/AIDS and to affirm the matchless value of every life.

 One of the most important initiatives of my administration has been the Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, known as PEPFAR. It's the largest international health initiative dedicated² to a single disease. When we launched PEPFAR, our goal was to support treatment for two million people in five years. Today, I'm pleased to announce that we have exceeded that goal -- early.

The American people, through PEPFAR, are supporting lifesaving treatment for more than two million people around the world. And when PEPFAR began, only 50,000 people living with HIV in all of sub-Sahara Africa were receiving antiretroviral treatment.

Around the world, we've also supported care for more than 10 million people affected³ by HIV, including more than four million orphans⁴ and vulnerable children. More than 237,000 babies have been born HIV-free, thanks to the support of the American people for programs to prevent mothers from passing the virus on to their children.

PEPFAR is bringing hope and healing to people around the world. On our trips to Africa, Laura and I have witnessed firsthand the gratitude⁵ of the African people.

We look forward to discussing our efforts to combat global HIV/AIDS with Rick Warren at the Saddleback Civil Forum⁶ on Global Health this morning. In the meantime, we thank our fellow citizens for being so compassionate⁷ and so caring and so decent. God bless.

参考中文翻译：

布什总统：早上好。今天是世界艾滋病日，我们在国内外肯定我们反抗艾滋病毒的诺言的日子。世界上有3300万人感染艾滋病毒，其中包括100多万美国人。今年，当我们再一次关注世界艾滋病日的时候，白宫的北门廊上挂上了红丝带。
红丝带象征这我们对抗艾滋病的决心，再一次强调我们肯定每一个生命的价值。

我这一届政府最重要的一个首创就是艾滋病紧急救援计划（Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief），简称PEPFAR。这是世界上针对单种疾病最大的健康创新。当我们发起PEPFAR的时候，我们的目标是在5年内治疗200万艾滋病人。今天，我很高兴的宣布，我们已经提前超越了这一目标。

美国人通过PEPFAR拯救了世界上200万艾滋病人的生命。当PEPFAR刚刚开始的时候，整个撒哈拉以南的非常地区只有5万艾滋病人接受抗逆转录病毒治疗。

在世界范围内，我们也照管了1000多万受艾滋病毒影响的人，包括400多万孤儿和易受伤害的儿童。23.7万婴儿出生时没有感染艾滋病毒，多亏美国的该项目阻止了母亲将艾滋病毒传给婴儿。

PEPFAR给世界人民带来了希望。在我们去非洲的旅途上，Laura和我亲眼目睹了非洲人民的感激之情。

我们期待今天上午在全球卫生萨德尔拜克公民论坛(Saddleback Civil Forum on Global Health)上同里克·沃伦(Rick Warren)讨论抗击全球艾滋病病毒/艾滋病的工作。同时，我们对我国同胞如此深情、如此关爱、如此宽宏深表感谢。