US to lift ban on HIV+ visitors

Good news from DC on Friday: President Obama announced that the government would lift a 22-year ban on entry into the United States for people who are HIV positive. The change takes effect Jan. 2010. "If we want to be the global leader in combating HIV/AIDS, we need to act like it," the president said.

The HIV+ travel ban has been embarrassing and counter-productive -- it's prevented the US from hosting major HIV/AIDS conferences, and it's prevented foreign HIV+ activists from speaking in the US. Almost no other countries have such a travel ban.

From CNN: "Today is a great day for human rights and for people living with AIDS, their friends and their families," said Frank Donaghue, CEO of Physicians for Human Rights. "The HIV Travel Ban made the United States a pariah in human rights circles, and harmed our reputation as a world leader of HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment and care.