US lifts AIDS travel ban

A ban on people letting people with HIV enter the US that had been in place for 22 years was yesterday lifted. HIV was added in 1987 to the list of diseases that could stop infected immigrants, students and tourists from getting visas to enter the US without special permission. But President Barack Obama's announcement, which will take effect in 60 days’ time marked the end of a process started in 2008 by then president George Bush, who signed a law repealing these restrictions. "We lead the world when it comes to helping stem the Aids pandemic, yet we are one of only a dozen countries that still bar people from HIV from entering our own country. If we want to be the global leader in combating HIV/Aids, we need to act like it," Obama said.

Aids campaigners are celebrating the move as a major coup in the fight against stigma. "This comes as very good news for us," said Michael Angaga, regional coordinator for the Network of African People Living with HIV/Aids. "For so long HIV-positive people have felt isolated by one of the greatest nations in the world, which should be spearheading human rights," he told the United Nations news service, IRIN. The hope is now that the US's move would serve as an example to other countries to do the same. Across the globe, 59 countries enforce some kind of travel restrictions on people living with HIV, according to the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/Aids (UNaids). "This shows that America can now see the reality that people living with HIV are just like any other people, deserving of the right to free movement – the travel ban was discrimination of the highest calibre," said Samuel Kibanga, national coordinator of the National Forum of People living with HIV/Aids Networks in Uganda.

It is discrimination to restrict the movement or choice of country to live in based on HIV status alone, say UNAIDS International Guidelines on HIV/Aids and Human Rights. And that includes screening international travellers for HIV. Usually governments say that restricting travel for HIV-positive people helps control the spread of the virus, and saves countries the cost of treatment. But campaigners have long argued that banning people simply drives the problem of HIV underground, because many people are scared to reveal their status when travelling.UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon congratulated US President Barack Obama for announcing the move. "I urge all other countries with such restrictions to take steps to remove them at the earliest," Ban said in a statement.

By Hayley Jarvis for SOS Children