US Ban on HIV-Positive Individuals Under Scrutiny

The US is under fire due to the recent incident which happened due to a custom official refusing the entry of a Canadian Citizen named Martin Rooney for the sole reason that he is infected with HIV, a virus that causes AIDS.

Existing US law inhibits the entry of individuals with debilitating diseases including HIV/AIDS for entry into the United States. Mr Rooney was on his way to the United States to spend his weekend and attend the Remembrance Day last November (2007). Though honest about his intentions and transparent about his current condition, he was refused entry into the US due to that same reason and was required to secure a visa waiver and was sent back to Canada on that same date.

Democrat Senator John Kerry is now proposing a bill that would ratify the existing Immigration and Nationality Act that is preventing HIV-positive individuals from travelling to the United States for various reasons. Read more at GlobeandMail.com.

Brazil to Introduce Initiative to Curb HIV Cases

The Government of Brazil have made another plans of curbing the increasing rate of HIV cases among its people especially among men who have sex with men.

The campaign is focused on sexually active men with age ranging from 13 to 24 and educate them on safe sex and encourage them in using preventive methods in contracting sexually transmitted diseases, especially HIV/AIDS.

It shows that more than 40 percent (41.1% to be exact) of HIV cases in 2006 are from the above age group and the number continuously rises. A study conducted by Brazil's Ministry of Health also shows that there were around 226 HIV cases per 100,000 men in Brazil to date.

Please click here for more information.

HIV-Related Travel Restrictions

The Joint United Nation Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) has setup an international team that would investigate on the unfair HIV travel restrictions imposed by most countries to people with such infections or disease.

While most of us know that most countries would argue about protecting their own people about the danger imposed by people with HIV/AIDS to their constituents, we cannot deny the fact that this may also become an issue on discrimination, human rights and travel-related freedom by people living with such disease.

I believe that the United Nation should impose tougher sanctions for countries violating human rights just because people are infected with HIV. I think that for as long as people living with HIV are healthy and productive in their respective jobs, they should not be prevented from participating though and should not be denied of living a decent and normal life and should remain insulated from the stigma of the society. In fact, HIV positive individuals cannot infect others through casual contact. Click here to read more.

Transport Spending May Increase HIV/AIDS Incidence

Asian Development Bank (ADB) based in the Philippines has provided information on the result of the research made on the effect of lending for transportation-related projects to the increased incidence of HIV/AIDS in a specific region.

The research shows that the huge amount of money allocated to the massive development of various public works paved the way for increased rate of sexual activity among men and women in remote places and therefore increasing the incidence of unprotected sexual contact among men and sexual workers.

Read more on Google News.