HIV/AIDS Policy

blog_logoThe U.S. HIV/AIDS Travel Ban Shocked the World

The HIV/AIDS Travel Ban forbidding foreigners with HIV from entering the United States became effective in June 1987.  The HIV/AIDS Travel Ban was a consequence of an action by the United States Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS).  This agency added AIDS to the list of dangerous contagious diseases.  Thereby, immediately, any foreigner with AIDS was “ineligible to receive a visa and therefore are excluded from admission into the United States [1].”  This action shocked aware and concerned peoples worldwide. 

Eventually, the U.S. HIV/AIDS Travel Ban was rescinded in 2010 [1]. 

The U.S. HIV/AIDS Travel Ban was Not the First

Liberia and Saudi Arabia both had travel bans by 1986, a year before the US travel was enacted.

Both Liberia (West Africa) and Saudi Arabia had travel bans restricting U.S. citizens from entering these countries without providing certification of an AIDS-free status [2].  Continue reading

blog_logoJames Chin, MD, MPH was the former Chief of the Surveillance, Forecasting, and Impact Assessment Unit for the Global Programme on AIDS (GPA) at the World Health Organization (WHO) between 1987 and 1992.  From hearsay, I understand that Dr. Chin quit WHO in protest over WHO’s consistent use and distribution of the highest computer estimates for global HIV/AIDS statistics.

Nevertheless, he did not leave quietly, and trumpeted his views in the booklet The Myth of a General AIDS Pandemic: How billions are wasted on unnecessary AIDS prevention programmes.  The title of this document is forthright, and it contains strong words inside as well: Continue reading

blog_logoContrary to popular belief, the HIV incubation period does not have a 10-year average.  On the lower end, the HIV incubation period is 8 to 24 months, according to research conducted by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) at the beginning of the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
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blog_logoRoger England is Chairman of the Health Systems Workshop, Grenada.  His analyses and commentaries are lightly sprinkled through the scientific literature.  The Writing is on the Wall for UNAIDS was England’s editorial in the British Medical Journal (BMJ), May 2008.  England criticizes the rampant “exceptionalism” granted to HIV/AIDS across many domains.

In one strong statement, England writes: Continue reading

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