U.S. House Passes HIV Travel Ban Repeal 303-115

Late Thursday night, by a vote of 303-115, the United States House of Representatives passed H.R. 5501, a bill to re-authorize the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and remove HIV/AIDS from the list of communicable diseases that can bar an individual from entering the country.

The always excellent Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report summarizes the news thusly:

The legislation allocates a total of $50 billion -- $48 billion of which would go to PEPFAR and $2 billion of which would go to American Indian issues. The bill also includes an amendment intended to increase oversight of the Global Fund To Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and encourage cost-sharing and transition strategies as part of agreements with countries that receive PEPFAR aid. The measure also includes a provision that would ease U.S. HIV/AIDS travel restrictions.

One primary difference between the original House version of the legislation and the version passed on Thursday is that the original version would have allowed groups to use PEPFAR funding for HIV testing and education in family planning clinics but not for contraception or abortion services. The bill passed on Thursday does not mention family planning programs.

The measure approved on Thursday also includes a provision that more than half of the program's aid go toward HIV/AIDS treatment and care. In addition, it would overturn an existing law that requires one-third of prevention funds be spent on abstinence and fidelity programs, instead requiring a report to Congress if countries do not spend half of prevention money on such programs. The bill also would direct 10% of funding to programs for orphans and vulnerable children, as well as allocate $2 billion for the Global Fund in fiscal year 2009. The legislation contains an existing requirement that organizations receiving PEPFAR aid have a policy that opposes commercial sex work. The bill would create links between HIV/AIDS and nutrition programs and set a target of recruiting 140,000 health care workers. In addition, the measure would allocate $5 billion for malaria programs and $4 billion for tuberculosis initiatives (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 7/24).

Woo hoo! Still-President Bush has announced that he intends to sign the bill into law when it reaches his desk.