THE PRESIDENT:  Hello, everybody!  Hello!  (Applause.)  Hello.  Hello, hello, hello.  Hello.  Well, good evening, everybody.  This is a pretty feisty（活跃的，吵闹的） group here.  (Laughter.)

AUDIENCE MEMBER:  We love you, President!

THE PRESIDENT:  Love you back.  Thank you.  (Applause.)  Thank you.  Well, it is a privilege（特权，优待） 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（贵宾） 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（发病率，病态） 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（胜过，超越） 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（整理，引领） 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（强迫，迫使） us to stop this scourge（鞭，灾祸） .  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（消毒，使清洁） , as he put it, at funerals; homophobi（对同性恋的恐惧） , 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（奴役，束缚） 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 --