HIV/AIDS Awareness. A father’s choice.

Posts Tagged ‘travel ban’

image courtesy of dailymail.com 

 Did you know that if you had HIV, the United States restricted you from being in the country for over 30 days?  After 22 years, the American ban on HIV positive international travelers was lifted on January 5, 2010. The ban was instituted at the beginning of the AIDS pandemic, and was driven by fear, rather than medical science. It dates back to the early history of HIV, where U..S. policy considered it to be a communicable disease. Doctors, scientists, and many politicians had campaigned for it to be removed from the beginning. Foreign visitors who had the virus were able to get temporary visas, but were not able to stay longer than thirty days. This prevented them from working or studying in the United States.

Joe Somonese, speaking for the Human Rights Campaign, stated: “Today, a sad chapter in our nation’s response to people with HIV and AIDS has finally come to a close and we are a better nation for it. This policy, in place for more than two decades, was unnecessary, ineffective and lacked any public health justification.”

image courtesy of harpas.org

Other nations that still maintain a similar ban are Russia, Israel, New Zealand, Egypt, Poland and China.

U.S. Lifts Travel Ban for People with HIV