Washington DC – Congressman Howard L. Berman (D-CA), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, congratulated the Obama Administration for lifting the 22-year old ban on travelers to the United States who either are HIV positive or living with AIDS; the order to lift the ban went into effect today.

“While the United States has been the global leader in the fight against the HIV/AIDS pandemic with generous financial support, we have tacitly helped to stigmatize the disease by treating individuals living with HIV/AIDS as second-class human beings,” Berman said. “Lifting this ban is a great moment for U.S. leadership in battling HIV/AIDS.”

President Obama announced the move when he signed the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Treatment Extension Act on Friday.

The House Foreign Affairs Committee ensured that the ban would be lifted with a provision in the Tom Lantos and Henry J. Hyde United States Global Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria Reauthorization Act of 2008, which became law in July of last year.