; Whereas transgender women in the United States are at high risk for HIV; Whereas more than half of all transgender people diagnosed with HIV are Black or African American; Whereas the Southern United States now experiences the highest burden of the HIV/AIDS epidemic; Whereas in 2017, the South made up 52 percent of the new HIV diagnoses in the United States; Whereas African Americans are severely and disproportionately affected by HIV in the South, accounting for 53 percent of all new HIV infections in the region; Whereas socioeconomic issues impact the rates of HIV infection among African Americans in the South and throughout the United States; Whereas socioeconomic factors like income inequality, poverty, and lack of access to HIV prevention education and basic health services, and cultural factors like homophobia, transphobia, and racism all pose significant challenges to combating the HIV/AIDS epidemic; Whereas we are seeing signs of progress; Whereas from 2011 to 2015, HIV diagnoses among African-American women fell by nearly 20 percent and have also fallen sharply among African Americans who inject drugs; Whereas testing, education, counseling, and harm reduction practices are all critical to prevent HIV; Whereas life-saving treatment is also a proven prevention tool, and research shows that antiretroviral drugs can reduce the amount of virus to undetectable levels (also known as viral suppression), effectively resulting in no risk of transmission of HIV; Whereas in 2012, the Food and Drug Administration approved pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) as prevention for people who are HIV-negative; Whereas PrEP can reduce the risk of HIV infection for HIV-negative people by up to 99 percent; Whereas in 1998, Congress and the Clinton administration created the National Minority AIDS Initiative to help coordinate funding, build capacity, and provide prevention, care, and treatment services within the African-American, Hispanic, Asian Pacific Islander, and Native American communities