DOD Updates Policy on HIV-Positive Service Members

On June 6, 2022, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin issued a memo (PDF, 593 KB) updating the Department’s policies on HIV-positive personnel serving within the Armed Forces in view of significant advances in the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of HIV since the policy was established.

Under the Department’s updated policies, “individuals who have been identified as HIV-positive, are asymptomatic, and who have a clinically confirmed undetectable viral load will have no restrictions applied to their deployability or to their ability to commission while a Service member solely on the basis of their HIV-positive status.  Nor will such individuals be discharged or separated solely on the basis of their HIV-positive status.”

The Department of Defense is represented on the National HIV/AIDS Strategy Federal Implementation Workgroup which is composed of representatives of the 10 federal departments that contributed to developing the Strategy and who share responsibility for implementing it.

To view the updated DoD policy, click here (PDF, 593 KB). Read the DOD’s news release.