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China may lift its ban against foreigners who have HIV-AIDS, said health officials who favor scrapping the policy.
"I hope China will remove the ban thoroughly and forever by the time of the Shanghai Expo," Vice-Minister of Health Huang Jiefu told The China Daily in a story published Monday. The Expo is expected to attract several million visitors from overseas when it opens May 1 with the theme "Better City, Better Life."
China imposed its ban in the late 1980s and is one of about 70 countries that deny entry to people with the virus.
"In the 1980s, the government knew little about the infection and thought the restriction would keep the virus outside the country," said professor Li Dun of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
China last month reported 319,877 of its residents were living with HIV-AIDS and 49,845 had died from the virus.
If the ban is not scrapped before the Expo opens, it's likely China will grant a waiver to foreigners with HIV-AIDS allowing them to enter China, as it did with last year's Olympic Games, Jiefu said.
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