NAFSA's Statement on AIDS and International Education Issues: Treatment and Care for HIV-Infected Individuals
The institution should serve as an advocate and referral source for health care and social services for HIV-infected students. HIV-related illness may lead to a foreign student's withdrawal from the institution, loss of visa status, or possible deportation. In some cases, individuals have successfully avoided deportation where it could be proved that deportation would result in a loss of adequate medical treatment. This argument may have increasing importance as new treatments become available in the United States for HIV-infected persons.
In keeping with the recommendations of the ACHA and NAFSA Joint Committee on Foreign Student Health Care, institutions of higher education should provide adequate health care and services to all international students and facilitate health care for their dependents, including those infected with HIV, whether or not they are symptomatic.
Insurance
AIDS and HIV infection have increased the complexity of numerous issues about insurance coverage and benefits. Most health insurance policies, including those sold as group policies for students in colleges and universities, exclude pre-existing conditions from coverage. Exact definitions of pre-existing conditions vary; in some policies, pre-existing conditions are excluded only if they were diagnosed prior to the effective date of the policy, but in others, pre-existing conditions are excluded even if they were not diagnosed. Students with known positive HIV antibody tests prior to insurance enrollment might well be excluded from benefits should an illness related to HIV infection develop. The responsible office should obtain and make available information about insurance procedures and benefits regarding coverage of HIV-infected individuals.
Confidentiality
The potentially devastating consequences of the unauthorized disclosure of an international student's HIV infection emphasize the absolute necessity that such information be kept strictly confidential. All staff who have access to information on the HIV antibody status of an international student should be reminded of the necessity of confidentiality prior to their involvement with international students. Confidentiality issues are further discussed in the General Statement on Institutional Response to AIDS and in AIDS on the College Campus.
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