In October 2009 the Obama administration announced its decision to end the ban prohibiting HIV-positive people from traveling and immigrating to the United States. The highly celebrated change took effect January 4. We asked Frank J. Oldham Jr., president and chief executive officer of the National Association of People With AIDS (NAPWA), for his thoughts on how this important policy change might affect Black America's fight against AIDS.
Why was ending this ban so important?
A civil rights issue has been addressed for minorities, gay people and women of all colors with HIV. It's long overdue. It was a completely backward policy.
How will this change impact Black people--both HIV-positive and HIV-negative--particularly in the United States?
When someone dies of AIDS, they're really dying of poverty, racism, homo-hatred, stigma around substance abuse and no health care. African Americans make up 13 percent of the U.S. population and [almost] 50 percent of the AIDS population. Lifting the ban helps remove stigma and saves lives. NAPWA represents 1.1 million Americans living with HIV, over 50 percent of them Black, and we don't want them to progress to AIDS, [but they can] if they don't get care. Lifting the ban ensures that we can learn from people overseas how to best get people into care and keep them there.
What possibilities exist now for Black people that didn't exist before?
The ban said that HIV is so horrible that if you [have HIV and] have family in other countries--whether it's Trinidad, Jamaica or a country in Africa--and you left this country, you could [have trouble] getting back in. If you had your meds and they saw them at the airport, you could be stopped. It's a total outrage. They were increasing AIDS stigma. The ban was an obvious injustice and violation of civil rights.
