The President also announced that an order cancelling the ban will be issued on Monday and would take effect after a 60-days waiting period.
“If we want to be a global leader in combating H.I.V./AIDS, we need to act like it,” Obama said at the White House while signing a bill to extend the Ryan White HIV/AIDS program. “Now, we talk about reducing the stigma of this disease, yet we’ve treated a visitor living with it as a threat.”
The program, started in 1990, provides medical care, medication and support services to about half a million people, most of them low-income.
The bill is named for an Indiana teenager who got infected with the HIV strain through a blood transfusion at age 13 and died in April 1990 at the age of 18.
Lifting of the ban ends the stigma
The ban came into effect in 1987 at a time of widespread fear that HIV/AIDS could be transmitted through physical or respiratory contact.
Under the ban, all those infected with the HIV strain were not allowed to travel or to seek a residency in the United States.
Because of the restriction, the country was also prevented from hosting international conferences on global strategies to fight HIV epidemic since 1990.
Particularly, the ban affected tourists and gay men.
However, this announcement has been welcomed by several groups. Now all those wanting to travel to the United States will not be required to give the HIV test once the bill comes into effect.
"The connection between immigration and H.I.V. has frightened people away from testing and treatment,” said Rachel B. Tiven, executive director of Immigration Equality, a group that advocates for gay people in immigration matters.
"Now, those families can be reunited, and the United States can put its mouth where its money is: ending the stigma that perpetuates HIV transmission, supporting science and welcoming those who seek to build a life in this country," added Tiven.
At the White House ceremony, Obama also acknowledged Bush administration's efforts towards lifting the ban, which started last year.
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