U.S. lifts ban on individuals with HIV entering the country

President Obama has signed legislation to repeal restrictions on individuals with HIV entering the United States.

The legislation is slated to take effect in early 2010.

The removal of the ban has been praised by such organizations as Human Rights Watch, the International AIDS Society, the Infectious Diseases Society of America and the Pediatric AIDS Foundation, among others. Such travel restrictions have been criticized by public health officials and human rights activists around the world as contributing to the fear and stigma surrounding the disease.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon congratulated President Obama and Congress for finishing the task begun during the Bush administration. The Secretary General also took the opportunity to urge the remaining nations which have travel restrictions, including his native South Korea, to enact similar legislation.

President Obama signed the travel ban legislation in conjunction with the signing of a bill to extend the Ryan White program.

“If we want to be the global leader in combating HIV/AIDS, we need to act like it,” Obama said at the White House.

The restrictions have been in place since 1987.

The recent lifting of the travel ban for HIV infection is great news and long overdue. The requirement restricting travel to the US and forcing HIV status disclosure never made any sense and was an unfortunate reminder of the stigma that actually fed the spread of the epidemic. Twenty years ago we decided in the International AIDS Society that the major International AIDS Conference could never be held in the US as long as the ban was in place. Now that our policies are in alignment with almost all other countries in the world we can once more invite our foreign colleagues to our country to share the progress and remaining challenges we all face in combating the epidemic.

- Paul Volberding, MD

Professor and vice chair, University of California, San Francisco Department of Medicine