China to ease travel restrictions on HIV-carriers

By Lindsay Beck

BEIJING (Reuters) - China is to scrap immigration laws that restrict people with HIV/AIDS traveling to the country, a health ministry official and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria said on Thursday.

The travel restrictions have been a hindrance blocking people who are HIV-positive from entering China to attend conferences on AIDS and is seen as reinforcing stigmas against those living with the disease.

"China has decided to change its immigration laws, scrapping travel restrictions," Michel Kazatchkine, executive director of the Global Fund, told a news conference.

"The new law, which hopefully will be passed in the coming months, will be in line with the global conventions, which recognize that travel restrictions for HIV-positive people do not have any public health value," he said.

Vice Minister of Health Huang Jiefu did not give a timeline for the change, but said China was committed to making the amendment.

"Modifying laws and regulations is quite a complicated process and it takes some time. I must be very candid with you, that this process has not been completed yet," he said.

"But I would like to ask the international community and the media to rest assured that China would honor its commitment ..." he said.

Both were speaking at a conference to announce the signing of a grant worth $5.8 million over its first two years aimed at strengthening non-governmental and civil society organizations in China to scale up AIDS prevention efforts.