Australia seeks ban on HIV+ immigrants

Australia Prime Minister John Howard has come under fire from local and international AIDS researchers for proposing that HIV-positive people be banned from moving to the country.

Howard, who is facing an election later this year, said twice in recent weeks that he'd like to prevent HIV-positive people from immigrating. On June 1, he told an Australian radio station he was going to review existing policies, saying: "My view is the best result is that no one with those sort of ailments is allowed into the country."

But leading researchers who met today (June 7) in Melbourne said banning HIV+ people from immigrating would have minimal impact on the disease in Australia. "We don't believe this is a key issue in the epidemic," said Andrew Grulich, from the National Centre in HIV Epidemiology and Clinical Research. "The trends are very largely driven by local transmission among gay men born in Australia, not in migrants."

Overall, 12-14% of new HIV diagnoses in Australia are in people from high prevalence countries, or people who say they got the virus from someone from a high prevalence country, Grulich said. "But the majority of these people are HIV negative when they come to the country. Much of the transmission [among people from high prevalence countries] is occurring after they come to Australia as HIV negative immigrants."

The US State Department lists HIV testing requirements for HIV testing around the world, showing that most countries require testing for long-term residents. The US itself denies entry to HIV positive people, including those visiting for a short time, unless they qualify for specific waivers.

The meeting among Australian scientists had been organized by the Australian Department of Health to discuss the factors affecting HIV rates around the country. The consensus was that "what's happening in migrants and visa holders is a very minor part" of the problem, said Grulich. "I hope all the public servants here today will go back and deliver that message to their bosses."

Howard's statements also angered the head of the International AIDS Society, Craig McClure, who said last week that they represented "a blatant disregard of basic human rights."

"We believe that Prime Minister Howard's suggestions of more restrictive policies in this area are damaging Australia's reputation as a leading scientific voice on HIV prevention, care, and treatment, and as a leading voice for human rights," McClure said in a statement.

The IAS is due to hold its fourth Conference on HIV Pathogenesis, Treatment and Prevention in Sydney next month. The European AIDS Treatment group said recently that Howard's policy proposals threatened the meeting, although the IAS has said it isn't planning to move the meeting. In 1992, Harvard decided to move the Eighth International AIDS Conference from Boston, where it had been scheduled for six days in May, to Amsterdam, in protest over a similarly restrictive policy in the US.

In Australia, any change in policy would not be likely to affect many people, said immigration department spokeswoman Kate Walshe, because very few people with HIV are allowed to move to the country already. Under current policy, people with HIV are automatically denied permanent residency visas, although those who are turned away can apply for exemptions on compassionate grounds.

Don Baxter, executive director of the Australian Federation of AIDS Organizations, said that most people who are granted medical exemptions are family members of people already living in Australia. "The people who will really be affected by a change in policy are the [overseas] husbands and wives and partners of Australian citizens," he told The Scientist.

Walshe told The Scientist that Howard and members of his ministerial Cabinet would discuss the topic in the next week or two. In the meantime, she said, "we are seeking out formal advice from within the department and will review what emerges."

From the beginning of the AIDS epidemic until the end of September 2006--the most recent date for which figures are available--Australia had recorded 23,065 diagnoses of HIV. The latest incidence figures show a rate of 1.3 cases per 100,000 people.

Stephen Pincock
mail@the-scientist.com

Links within this article

P. Cohen, "25 years with HIV," The Scientist, June 1, 2006.
http://www.the-scientist.com/article/display/23586/

"Howard calls for HIV immigration ban," ABC News, April 13, 2007.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200704/s1896267.htm

Andrew Grulich
http://notes.med.unsw.edu.au

Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) Testing Requirements for Entry into Foreign Countries
http://travel.state.gov/travel/tips/brochures/brochures_1230.html

US Immigration and Nationality Act
http://www.uscis.gov/propub/ProPubVAP.jsp?dockey=cb90c19a50729fb47fb0686648558dbe

International AIDS Society: "Howard government may damage HIV prevention efforts by considering discredited HIV inadmissibility policies"
http://www.iasociety.org/Web/WebContent/File/Statement%20-%20Australian%20immigration%20-%201%20june%202007.pdf

I. Oransky, "Paying for high moral ground," Harvard Crimson, March 15, 1993.
http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=226550

Australian Federation of AIDS Organizations
http://www.afao.org.au

Australian HIV Surveillance Report January 2007
http://web.med.unsw.edu.au/nchecr/Downloads/Jan07SurvRep.pdf