Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick: “Today I rise to acknowledge and commemorate World AIDS Day, which is Saturday, December 1. Today, worldwide, AIDS is the…”

“Today I rise to acknowledge and commemorate World AIDS Day, which is Saturday, December 1. Today, worldwide, AIDS is the fourth largest killer of people. Forty million people, as has been said, are living with AIDS today. As has been said, 900,000 here in America and 13,000 in my own State of Michigan. Half of the infected cases are young adults between 13 and 25. The cost of treating AIDS is astronomical. Our health system is not able today to carry that cost, and we must invest in our health system from top to bottom so we can treat those who are infected. It is important because countries around the world, including Africa, Eastern Europe, the U.K., Australia and Japan, are seeing increasing cases of HIV and AIDS. We must educate young people as well as others how to prevent the scourge of AIDS and carry out that responsibility. We must also invest resources so our health care system can treat.”