New Delhi: Nearly 25 years after HIV was detected in India, travel restrictions continue to bar patients from free movement through nations. HIV-related travel restrictionsexist in 45 countries. The Global AIDS Epidemic 2012 report, released by UNAIDS on Tuesday, says that the effects of such restrictions are severe for migrant workers, who play a prominent role in the global economy. There is a blanket ban on entry of people living with HIV in five countries — Brunei Darussalam, Oman, Sudan, the UAE and Yemen. Five others — Egypt, Singapore, Iraq, Qatar and Turks and Caicos Islands — require individuals wishing to stay for short periods (10–90 days) to prove they are HIV-negative. Laws in 20 countries, including Malaysia, Russia, Singapore, Jordan and Kuwait, deport individuals living with HIV. Six members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) — Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE — test people seeking to come to work and require them to be periodically tested to renew visas. “Those who become HIV-positive while working in the Gulf are often quarantined, deported, denied appropriate healthcare and ostracized upon returning to their home countries...,” the report said. India lifted all travel restrictions against HIV-positive patients in 2010. For the full report, log on to www.timesofindia.com India records 25% dip in new HIV infections First the good news: globally, there were more than half a million fewer AIDS-related deaths in 2011 than in 2005, with India reporting a 25% dip in the rate of new HIV infections between 2001 and 2011, acoording to the Global AIDS Epidemic 2012 report released by UNAIDS on Tuesday. Even then, last year alone, 1.7 million people died from AIDS-related causes worldwide. 2.5 million people became newly infected with HIV in 2011. Half of all reductions in new HIV infections in the last two years have been among newborn children showing that elimination of new infections in children is possible. In 2011, there were 34 million people living with HIV. In south and southeast Asia, an estimated 4 million people were living with HIV in 2011, compared to 3.7 million in 2001. The same year, new infections in children were 24% lower than 2009. An estimated 6.8 million people eligible for treatmentdon’t have access.