China to ease travel restrictions on HIV-carriers

BEIJING (Reuters) - China is to scrap immigration laws that restrict people with HIV/AIDS traveling to the country, a health ministry official and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria said on Thursday.

The travel restrictions have been a hindrance blocking people who are HIV-positive from entering China to attend conferences on AIDS and is seen as reinforcing stigmas against those living with the disease.

"China has decided to change its immigration laws, scrapping travel restrictions," Michel Kazatchkine, executive director of the Global Fund, told a news conference.