Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2009. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
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Associated Press (10.31.09) - Monday, November 02, 2009
Darlene Superville
"If we want to be the global leader in combating HIV/AIDS, we need to act like it," Obama said before signing a bill that reauthorizes the federal Ryan White HIV/AIDS program, which provides care, treatment, and support services for about half- a-million low-income HIV/AIDS patients in the United States.
The Department of Health and Human Services in 1987 added HIV to a list of communicable diseases that disqualified infected travelers from entering the United States on visas or seeking a green card. In 1991, HHS tried to repeal the decision, but the move was opposed by Congress. Two years later, Congress made HIV infection grounds for inadmissibility to the United States, the only medical condition so designated.
Since 1993, no major international AIDS conference has been held in the United States because HIV-positive advocates and researchers cannot enter the country.
Reversing the travel ban will help end stigma against people with HIV/AIDS, which makes some avoid testing for the virus and fuels its spread, said Obama.
The 22-year-old restriction also separated families without having a clear public health benefit, said Rachel B. Tiven, executive director of Immigration Equality, an LGBT/HIV+ advocacy group. "Now, those families can be reunited, and the United States can put its mouth where its money is: ending the stigma that perpetuates HIV transmission, supporting science and welcoming those who seek to build a life in this country," she said.
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