Bad Blood

To fight AIDS, lift the ban on immigrants with HIV

Jonathan Rauch | January 12, 2004

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Moreover, says Mason, some of the best people to provide treatment in Africa are Africans who are themselves infected. In other words, "Some of the best people to implement this program are people we can't bring into this country for training because of the HIV ban."

Mason says the AIDS council's international committee favors lifting the ban and will seek the full council's imprimatur, possibly in March. Then the recommendation would go to Bush, who would need to decide whether to take the case to Congress, where being seen as soft on AIDS is never popular.

The first Bush administration retreated from its effort to lift the ban at the first sign of political resistance. The Clinton administration tried barely harder, believing, probably correctly, that the cause was lost on Capitol Hill. A decade later, however, AIDS panic has subsided, HIV has become a global threat, and America has a president who promises to lead.

"The United States is in a tremendous position to fight this disease," says Mason, "and we need to do everything we can to get unnecessary barriers out of the way." Over to you, President Bush.