President Obama To Lift HIV/AIDS Travel Ban - CNN.com »
Posted By TimALoftis 1 month ago in Health & Fitness
Washington (CNN) -- President Obama announced Friday that he will lift a 22-year-old ban on entry into the United States for people infected with HIV/AIDS.
The administration intends to publish a new federal rule next week eliminating the ban by the start of 2010, he said.
"We talk about reducing the stigma of this disease, yet we've treated a visitor living with it as a threat," he said at the White House. "If we want to be the global leader in combating HIV/AIDS, we need to act like it."
Obama said that lifting the ban is a "step that will encourage people to get tested and get treatment. It's a step that will keep families together, and it's a step that will save lives."
The United States, he said, is one of only a dozen countries that still bar the entry of people with HIV.
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ekklesiawarriorComment removed: Hard Banned2 Replies
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TimALoftis1 month ago
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From a earlier NBC News piece;
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The 11 other counties that have this ban -
Armenia, Brunei, Iraq, Libya, Moldova, Oman, Qatar, the Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, South Korea and Sudan.
The proposed change comes more than a year after Congress voted to repeal 1987 restrictions on HIV-positive immigrants as part of a package of AIDS reforms proposed by President George W. Bush.
“We’re trying to end the stigma and the discriminatory practice for a disease that doesn’t warrant exclusion for coming into this country,” said Dr. Martin Cetron, director of the CDC’s Division of Global Migration and Quarantine. “We have to appreciate this is not a threat we face from abroad.”
Infectious disease experts and AIDS advocates already are cheering the plan to remove the HIV ban, which was enacted at a time when people — and politicians — wrongly feared that the disease could be spread through casual contact, said Dr. Michael Saag, incoming chairman of the HIV Medicine Association.
“There is no scientific or public health rationale for excluding people with HIV infection from the U.S.,” said Saag, who also heads the division of infectious diseases at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. “Frankly, it was a bit of an embarrassment, even then.” -
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jordan111 month ago
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Good. That 'law' came out of the ignorance and fear of HIV when people believed they could 'catch' the virus as easily as drinking from the same glass as an HIV victim. It's an immoral law, and should be discarded to the trash heap of wrongs perpetrated against groups of people over the centuries.
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Hobe1 month ago
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President Obama To Lift HIV/AIDS Travel Ban - CNN.com
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Slate... Excellent Post....
Would it be fair to pose part of the question to Boroc Husaine obermer and his family? 'would you accept a drink out of a glass from someone you knew had AIDs'???
Does anybody think Boroc Husaine obermer would sign that Bill if it were mandatory for him and his family? I Think not...
Interesting Question, -
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aceofspades11 month ago
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"Yes, I guess if we allow HIV infected people on planes"
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1- I've never been on a domestic flight that checked passengers for HIV
2- I know airlines are cutting corners, but what cheap ass plane do you fly on that passes the same plastic drinking vessel around to the passengers?
3- I hope you made that comment in a sarcastic vein or I'd be afraid of flying on the same plane with someone exhibiting such paranoia
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Hobe1 month ago
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President Obama To Lift HIV/AIDS Travel Ban - CNN.com »
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f5... Is it fair to say this is a common ocurence on a daily basis by food servers, bar tenders, doctors, dentists, etc?
A young beautiful women was intentionally infected with hiv/aids by a dentists. She appeared before the senate to tell her story.. She died a Horribal DEATH...
Not so Funny is it... -
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Digisol1 month ago
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Why don't we just take Disney World to him. That would solve the entire problem. I don't believe that it's right to keep him from coming here. But with so much going on in the US right now I guess they (who ever they are) just felt that they were taking precautions. Hell I really don't see a problem with letting him come here. There are so many people with this disease now in this Country, I so sure that one more isn't going to make a big difference.
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Sageparadox1 month ago
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For the record I wouldnt take a drink from anyones cup because I am on anti-rejectiong / ammuno-supressants medication. As far as sitting next to a Hiv/Aids patient on a airplane, I totally would not have a problem with it. Heck I might even let them get away with sleeping on my shoulder.
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