CEOs want end to travel restrictions on HIV persons
NIGERIANS, Pakistanis and Afghans may have to present a polio certificate before they can obtain visas to travel abroad especially to United States (U.S.), United Kingdom (UK) and Saudi Arabia.
Chairman, Expert Review Committee on Polio Eradication in Nigeria (ERC) and president-elect of the Nigerian Academy of Science (NAS), Prof. Oyewole Tomori, told The Guardian Monday: "A panel of experts that advises the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) is recommending that residents of polio-endemic countries be required to have polio vaccinations before they are allowed to travel abroad."
Nigeria, Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only endemic countries that have been unable to stop the transmission of the Wild Polio Virus (WPV).
The Independent Monitoring Board (IMB), which monitors the GPEI on behalf of the World Health Organisation (WHO), says in its November report that anyone from Afghanistan, Nigeria or Pakistan should be required to be immunised before they can cross borders.
The report said: "We recommend that the International Health Regulations Expert Review Committee urgently issue a standing recommendation by May 2013 that will introduce pre-travel vaccination or vaccination checks in each of these countries until national transmission is stopped.
"No country should allow a citizen from any endemic polio state to cross their border without a valid vaccination certificate."
The IMB said because 19 outbreaks have occurred since 2010 in countries that had previously eliminated the virus, it seems essential to ensure that people from countries where polio is still entrenched get vaccinated before they travel internationally.
Meanwhile, Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of some of the world's largest companies have called for an end to travel restrictions for people living with HIV.
More than 40 CEOs have signed an unprecedented pledge urging the repeal of laws and policies in 45 countries that still deport, detain or deny entry to people solely because they are living with HIV.
According to the News of The World, the CEOs represent nearly two million employees in industries from banking to mining, travel to technology. The companies include Coca-Cola, Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer, Heineken, Merck, the National Basketball Association, Kenya Airways and Thomson Reuters.
The CEOs pledge is an initiative of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), Levi Strauss and Co. and GBCHealth, a coalition of companies that address global health challenges.
Executive Director of UNAIDS Michel Sidibé, said: "Restrictions on entry, stay and residence for people living with HIV are discriminatory and a violation of human rights...Every individual should have equal access to freedom of movement."
CEOs oppose HIV travel restrictions also because to succeed in today's globalised economy, companies must be able to send their employees and best talents overseas, regardless of their HIV status.
The U.S. has since 2010 lifted its 22-year HIV travel ban. Other countries, including Armenia, China, Fiji, Moldova, Namibia and Ukraine, have also recently removed such restrictions. However, 45 countries, which include major hubs for international business, still deny entry, stay, residence or work visas for people living with HIV.
