The travel ban does not further any public health goals. Eliminating the ban will simply return the authority to the Secretary of Health and Human Services to decide whether or not persons with HIV should be admitted into our country. as they do for all other diseases. Our laws already require that anyone who wants to immigrate here demonstrate that they are unlikely to become an economic burden to the U.S. Government. which ensures that lifting the HIV travel ban would not have a significant financial cost. Over 200 organizations. including the American Medical Association. the American Public Health Association and the World Health Organization. oppose the HIV travel ban. A broad range of faithbased groups. including the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. support lifting the HIV travel ban. The HTV travel ban allows for a discretionary. casebycase waiver process. but it is available only to a restricted group of visa applicants. and it is cumbersome and timeconsuming. Lets take just one example: when Chicago hosted the Gay Games in 2006. the organizers had to work with various government agencies for several months before securing a waiver for persons with HIV to attend the event. We will take an important step towards ending discrimination against people with HIV by lifting this travel ban and treating persons with HIV the same way we treat those with other medical conditions.
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