Obama announces end to HIV entry ban

WASHINGTON - A US rule banning foreigners with HIV or AIDS from entering the US will be lifted by early January, President Barack Obama announced Friday.

The elimination of the 22-year-old rule is meant to put an end to the stigma of being infected with the disease, Obama said.

“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 with HIV from entering our own country,” Obama said.

The effort to lift the ban began under Obama’s predecessor, George W Bush, who enacted an unprecedented programme that spent billions of dollars to fight AIDS in Africa.

Obama said the ban was “fear rather than fact.”