Speaker. I rise today to offer an amendment to H.R. 1326. the Infant Mortality Amendments of 1987. My amendment will require that all community and migrant health centers which receive funding under this bill routinely test and counsel women of childbearing age for infection with the etiologic agent for AIDS. The stated purpose of this bill is to reduce rates of infant mortality and to enable community and migrant health centers to provide health care to children and women of childbearing age. What better means of improving infant mortality than preventing it by preventing or lowering the incidence of HIVinfected infants at birth or identifying them at the earliest possible opportunity in order to maximize effective health care. This bill is a particularly appropriate vehicle in light of the fact that low income individuals and minorities are considered populations at higher risk for HIV infection than the average individual. Community and migrant health centers serve a disproportionate share of the minority communities who. in turn. represent a disproportionate share of the AIDS cases nationwide. In addition. a June 1987 CDC report on the growth rate of heterosexual transmission reveals a "growing trend in heterosexual transmission of the disease and increasing difficulty in identifying women who are at risk." For this reason. routine testing in minority populations is particularly important to slowing the growth of the AIDS epidemic. Figures released by the Centers for Disease Control reveal that a disproportionately high number of AIDS cases reported in the United States since 1981 have occurred in blacks and Hispanics.
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Low income individuals and minorities are considered populations at higher risk for HIV infection than the average individual.