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New AIDS bill puts fresh spin on the Bush legacy
George Bush
Bush lifts ban on people with HIV travelling to the US
"In other moves aimed at helping cope with the global AIDS problem, Bush pledged to raise the amount the US would give in aid"
The legislation preventing people with HIV travelling to the United States, in effect since 1987, has been overturned in an historic bill signed by George Bush. Until now people with HIV have had to declare it on visa waiver cards and would be turned around at the border if they did, meaning that most people with HIV travelling to the US would not declare their status on the card and would smuggle their medication into the country.
In other moves aimed at helping cope with the global AIDS problem, Bush pledged to raise the amount the US would give in aid to prevent HIV, malaria and tuberculosis by three times to almost £24 billion and has removed the proviso that a third of that money should go to campaigns whose cornerstone was promoting abstinence. "It's going to save millions of people," he said at the signing. "This bill embodies the extraordinary compassion of the American People. We are a compassionate nation and that's what this bill says loud and clear."
Human rights organisations have welcomed the move, overturning what they saw as discriminatory and quite useless legislation.
