China will not revoke a ban on foreigners with HIV/AIDS ahead of the Olympics despite recently lifting the ban on visitors with leprosy, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reports (afp.google.com, 7/31).
Sixty-seven countries have some sort of HIV-specific laws restricting entry of people living with the virus. On July 30, President George W. Bush signed a law to lift the United States’ own long-standing restrictions on HIV-positive foreigners as part of his President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).
China requires short-term visitors to declare their HIV status at the border, while long-term stays require compulsory tests, according to the Global Database of HIV-related travel restrictions.
Connie Osborne, a senior World Health Organization’s advisor on HIV/AIDS in China, says reducing the stigma of people with HIV was one of the most crucial steps for China to address.
“That is still an ongoing battle,” she says. “We have won a few battles, but we have also lost a few.”
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Beth Benne, RN, is HIV negative, but
the virus has impacted her life. She currently supervises a biannual HIV/AIDS awareness week as
the director of the student health center at Pierce College, a
community commuter school in Woodland Hills, California.
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Overheard in the Women's Forum
"I recently met a guy who is negative. I did tell him about my status and he decided to kiss me anyway (we didn't go further than that). But a day later, he called and said that he actually had a mouth ulcer that time when we kissed and he was very worried. Asked if he can get the virus from me that way. For that moment, I felt so insulted and yet I felt so bad. It was my first time having a contact with a "negative" guy."
