Diary Prequel Package — page 319

None of this was easy, and frankly it's really worth remembering for a moment how bleak things looked at a certain point in time. A decade ago, when the world finally began to reckon with the full magnitude of this crisis, many experts thought it was too late, and with nearly 30 million people infected with HIV/AIDS in 2002, an entire generation seemed lost. When I looked at the enormity of the challenge at that point in time, candidly it was hard not to be overwhelmed to some degree, and perhaps even a tiny bit pessimistic. But I also felt that we had to do something, and so did many of my fellow senators, I am so happy to tell you, especially Bill Frist and ultimately Jessie Helms. I was proud to serve with Senator Frist as a founding co-chair of the bipartisan HIV/AIDS taskforce, a group that was instrumental in helping us to be able to prepare and lay the groundwork and pass the first AIDS legislation in the United States Congress - unanimously, I might add, in the Senate, thank to Jesse Helms' and Bill Frist's efforts - so that that was signed by President Bush in 2003. That translated ultimately into PEPFAR. This landmark legislation created the world's largest and most successful foreign assistance program, and today a disease that seemed unstoppable is in retreat. Globally, new HIV infections have declined nearly 20 percent over the past decade. In Sub-Saharan Africa, both the number of new infections and AIDS-related deaths are down by almost one-third over the last decade. Last year alone, PEPFAR supported HIV testing and counseling for nearly 50 million people, and while just 300,000 people in low and middle income countries were receiving anti-retroviral treatment 10 years ago, today PEPFAR is directly supporting more than 5 million people on treatment. Because of these successes, I am honored to make a very special announcement today, an announcement that we could literally only have dreamed about 10 years ago. Thanks to the support of PEPFAR, we have saved the one millionth baby from becoming infected with HIV. That is a remarkable step. (Applause.) And as you know, preventing mother-to-child transmission has been a central pillar of our fight against this disease, and just this month we reached the truly landmark moment on the HIV/AIDS timeline. Imagine what this means - one million babies, like Tatu's daughter Faith, can grow up happy and healthy, go to school, realize their dreams, break out of this cycle, maybe even have sons and daughters of their own, free from the burden and the fear of HIV. That is not the only good news. I'm also pleased to report that in 13 countries, we have now passed a programmatic tipping point. Today, more people are newly receiving treatment than are newly infected. We are at this point, thanks to the combined and coordinated efforts of all partners in the fight of global - against global AIDS. That is what has brought us to this moment. But in order for more countries to pass this tipping point and keep going in the right direction, we still need to reach those who are at the greatest risk of HIV infection. That's why last July, the United States announced the creation of a new $20 million fund to