Action AIDS
Friends For Life
January 2010
Angelica Singh Eric Loudenslager Garrod McFadden Ja Seng Mai Jim Robinson Kate Kozeniewski Louisa Alexander Louise Hall Megha Patel Suzanne Bartch Zack Hagert Volume 3, Issue 1 January 28, 2010 Advocacy Committee Newsletter Commu n i t y Meetings Office of HIV Planning 340 N. 12th St , Ste 203 Positive Committee 2/8 12-2pm Ryan White Planning Council 2/11 2:00-4:00pm Community Planning Group 2/3 2:30-4:30pm ACT-UP Philly St Luke’s 330 S. 13th St Every Monday 6-9pm HIV Housing Advisory Committee Meeting 1234 Market Street , 17th floor Tuesday, March 23rd 2pm JANUARY ADVOCACY NEWSLETTER Upcoming Events and Trainings National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day February 7th On this day, hundreds of groups around the country sponsor events and raise awareness among the black community, which accounts for more than 51 percent of new infections in the United States. For local details, go to blackaidsday.org Impact Global AIDS Washington, DC February 19-22nd IMPACT Global AIDS is a training for people who want to learn how to develop campaigns to hold the U.S. government accountable, and for those who want to be a part of strategizing campaigns. And because attending a training or strategy session rarely changes policy, participants will campaign together for a year, with the support of Health GAP and other participants, in their communities to ensure the U.S. government fully funds global AIDS. People living with HIV have a right to treatment, and we can organize to make that a reality.
Registrations are
Baltimore, MD February 22-23rd This conference is to familiarize participants with the epidemiology of HIV in the United States, current guidelines and cutting edge clinical modalities for the management of HIV, current research encompassing drug abuse and its connection to the HIV epidemic, social and psychiatric concerns of the HIV-infected patient, policy initiatives, trends and political issues which impact all HIV-infected patients. The conference does have a fee, though scholarships may be available. Apply online at https://www.regonline.com/2010ncaaa or call 443-367-0277 for more info. For more advocacy updates, please join our advocacy listserv by e-mailing advocacy@actionaids.org page:
due January 31st, 2010. The training itself (including dorm style
housing and all meals) is free, as long as you can get yourself there.
We do have a limited number of travel scholarships.
Apply here: healthgap.org/impact2010/
The 22 year old travel and immigration ban that prevented people living with
HIV/AIDS from entering the United States was terminated on January 4, 2010.
Those living with HIV/AIDS are now able to travel and immigrate to the US without
obtaining a waiver from the Department of Homeland Security.
In 1987, The Department of Health and Human Services imposed the ban under
the premise that HIV was one of the “dangerous and contagious” diseases which
present a public health risk. However, the ban was not codified into a law until
1993 under the Clinton administration. After this occurred, foreign AIDS activists
and researchers were required to complete a complicated waiver process to enter
the country. Though a bill mandating removal of the ban was signed and a revised
waiver was released in 2008 under the Bush administration, HIV/AIDS still remained
on the list of medical conditions as grounds for exclusion for entering into
the US.
President Obama announced the repeal of the ban in a ceremony marking the
fourth re-authorization of the Ryan White CARE Act in October, 2009. According
to CNN, President Obama said "We talk about reducing the stigma of this disease,
yet we've treated a visitor living with it as a threat. If we want to be the global
leader in combating HIV/AIDS, we need to act like it.” Prior to the lifting of this
ban, the US was one of only 12 countries in the world imposing this restriction.
After the US and South Korea lifted this ban, the countries still needing to remove
this restriction are Armenia, Brunei, Iraq, Libya, Moldova, Oman, Qatar, the Russian
Federation, Saudi Arabia, and Sudan.
Due to the ban, no major AIDS conference has been held on US soil since 1993.
The timely removal of this ban will allow people living with HIV to attend the
2012 International AIDS Conference to be held in Washington D.C.
National Conference on African-Americans and HIV
HIV Travel Ban Lifted
