President Obama has signed the Ryan White CARE Act Reauthorization Bill of 2009 into law at a small ceremony in Washington. At the same time, he took the opportunity to announce that he would be implementing the Bush era repeal of the HIV immigration and travel ban, formerly ending the US’ travel restrictions based on HIV status.

The Ryan White CARE Act Reauthorization Bill of 2009
The Ryan White HIV/AIDS Treatment Extension (CARE) Act of 2009 has finally been approved by Congress and was signed into law by President Obama today.

The legislation will continue to fund vital AIDS/HIV programs through until 2013 with a funding increase of up-to 5% through all sections of the program, and stipulates a national goal of ensuring 5 million HIV tests are carried out annually.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi affirmed of the importance of the Ryan White CARE Act following its 408-9 passage from the House on Oct. 21:

“Each year, this legislation ensures access to lifesaving medical services, including pharmaceuticals, for more than 500,000 clients – almost half of the individuals living with HIV/AIDS in this country… Reauthorizing the Ryan White Act will continue to increase access to primary care and medications by providing additional resources and facilitating the transition to HIV reporting.”

At the signing, President Obama made a brief speech, in which he said:

“It has been nearly three decades since this virus first became known.  But for years, we refused to recognize it for what it was.  It was coined a “gay disease.”  Those who had it were viewed with suspicion.  There was a sense among some that people afflicted by AIDS somehow deserved their fate and that it was acceptable for our nation to look the other way… tackling this epidemic will take far more aggressive approaches than we’ve seen in the past — not only from our federal government, but also state and local governments, from local community organizations, and from places of worship.

“But it will also take an effort to end the stigma that has stopped people from getting tested; that has stopped people from facing their own illness; and that has sped the spread of this disease for far too long.  A couple of years ago Michelle and I were in Africa and we tried to combat the stigma when we were in Kenya by taking a public HIV/AIDS test.  And I’m proud to announce today we’re about to take another step towards ending that stigma…”

Ending the HIV Travel and Immigration Ban
First implemented in 1987 and codified by Congress in 1993, the HIV travel ban prevented non-US citizens who were HIV positive from traveling to or immigrating into the US without prior consent from the Department of Homeland Security in the form of a visa.

Earlier this week, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) approved the removal of HIV from its list of communicable diseases.

This process was started earlier in the year, and followed on from former President Bush’s signing of the Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief on 30 July, 2008, that removed some of the restrictions against HIV positive travelers, but did not change the policies of 1987. Repealing those was something that the Bush Administration started, but ran out of time to implement.

President Obama’s announcement does not immediately end the HIV travel/immigration ban, but does signal the beginning of the end. It is expected that full implimentation of the new HIV travel regulations will take a further sixty days. Until that time, the US Citizenship and Immigration Service has been instructed to put on hold all green card applications that are currently tied to HIV status.

Senator John Kerry (D-MA) told the organization Immigration Equality:

“Today a discriminatory travel and immigration ban has gone the way of the dinosaur and we’re glad it’s finally extinct. It sure took too long to get here. We’ve now removed one more hurdle in our fight against AIDS, and it’s long overdue for people living with HIV who battle against stigma and bigotry day in and day out.”

While Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-CA) said:

“I believe that ending this policy is long overdue, and will lend greater credibility to U.S. foreign assistance efforts to fight the global HIV/AIDS epidemic. Particularly, it will aid in combating the stigma and discrimination against people living with HIV, and further erode discriminatory travel and immigration policies in other countries.”

Finally, President Obama highlighted the importance of ending the travel ban at today’s Ryan White Care Act signing:

“Twenty-two years ago, in a decision rooted in fear rather than fact, the United States instituted a travel ban on entry into the country for people living with HIV/AIDS.  Now, we talk about reducing the stigma of this disease — yet we’ve treated a visitor living with it as a threat.  We lead the world when it comes to helping stem the AIDS pandemic — yet we are one of only a dozen countries that still bar people from HIV from entering our own country. If we want to be the global leader in HIV, we need to act like it.“

Read President Obama’s full speech by clicking here.

A full brief detailing exactly how the ban will be lifted will be released on Monday.

*** UPDATE: The repeal of the HIV travel and immigration ban will go into effect on Jan 4, 2010. For more information, click here. ***