While President Bush signed a sweeping measure last Wednesday as an initial step in ending a long-standing U.S. ban on foreign visitors and immigrants who are HIV-positive, BCPWA advises its members not to rush and to remain cautious when crossing the border.

The travel ban, approved in 1993, was seen by opponents as an outdated and unfair leftover from a period of hysteria surrounding HIV. Its repeal, however, does not remove all U.S. travel impediments.

Activists will now turn their focus to the Department of Health and Human Services, which in 1987 placed HIV on its list of diseases barring entry into the U.S. That prohibition is separate from the congressionally imposed travel ban. But with the overarching ban by legislators repealed, federal health officials are no longer bound by law to keep HIV on the list.

However, it's unclear whether Health and Human Services plans to address the ban in the near future, so BCPWA advises its members to always err on the side of caution if travelling into the US.

Only 11 other countries, including Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Libya, Iraq and Colombia, maintain such a travel ban. Other diseases triggering the U.S. travel ban include leprosy, gonorrhea and tuberculosis.

For more information, please contact Paul K. department at paulk@bcpwa.org.

(Primary source: LA Times)