Ban on People with HIV Entering the USA to be lifted

Since 1987 there has been a ban on HIV+ people entering the United States.  The US is one of a minority of countries that took the view that people with HIV posed a public health risk to its citizens. This is in contrast to the vast majority of countries who treat HIV as being neutral regarding whether admission was granted.

It is perhaps worth reflecting on the implications for HIV+ people of this ban.

1.        HIV+ people had to leave their medicines at home when travelling to the United States or face deportation.  Interruptions to treatment will have caused many people long term health consequences including AIDS.

2.       HIV+ people were refused the right to stay in the USA leading to forced deportations which separated families including mothers from their children.

3.       International conferences on HIV/AIDS have been forced to be held outside the USA, a crazy situation since most of the HIV research the world relies upon is US driven.

Its high time this ban, initiated at the height of the AIDS hysteria and moral panic of the 1980’s is removed, and the new Obama administration should be congratulated on moving on this issue.  But it’s also a reminder that it’s easy to legislate unwisely in the eye of a storm, and then the legislation sits causing untold misery, until someone can find the moral fibre necessary to reverse it.