Here is a post we wrote about the United States lifting the travel ban on people with HIV:
http://borderjumpers1.blogspot.com/2009/11/only-on-todays-news.html

We might be naïve (and grossly uninformed), but we didn’t realize until we just opened the New York Times website that the United States had a ban on letting HIV-positive people travel or immigrate to the United States. In place for 22 years, the ban was enacted at the height of the AIDS epidemic when fear overruled science. Today, thankfully, some (but by no means all) of the stigma of HIV/AIDS has disappeared.

But the fact that the ban was ever in place is disturbing and confusing, especially as we write this from Nairobi, Kenya, a place where over seven percent of the adult population is infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. The local newspapers classified ads advertise singles looking for love, who freely—and without shame—announce their HIV positive status.

We are also encouraged on the ground by the growing widespread availability of free condoms, the AIDS awareness/education campaigns, and growing number of clinics and medical facilities for sex workers. For Danielle, it is a remarkable improvement from her last visit to Kenya, when the media didn’t report as widely about the disease. Still, the crisis continues to be widespread here–and the effects on farming, on the workforce, and on households is alarming.

All our best, Danielle Nierenberg and Bernard Pollack

This post was mentioned on Twitter by lezgetreal: New on LGR Obama Reauthorizes HIV/AIDS Law, Promises To End Travel Ban On Monday: 10/30/09-by Bridget.. http://bit.ly/4tCzWZ...