HIV/AIDS is an important global issue in human rights and health. The United Nations Refugee Convention clearly addresses to guarantee healthcare rights to refugees at the same level as those provided to citizens. In Korea, the number of refugee applicants has surged since the enactment of the Refugee Act in 2012. Regarding human dignity and human rights, however, there are serious concerns that Korea’s healthcare laws and policies would not fully protect the right of foreigners who are suffering from financial hardship. This paper proposes the ways to improve healthcare equity by comparing the UNAIDS Guidelines to Korean policies on HIV-positive refugee applicants.

• Sunjoo Kang(Professor at the Department of Nursing of Cheju Halla University.)
• Younjoo Kim(Vice-director at Daegu Center for Infectious Diseases Control and Prevention and former counselling nurse for hospital)
• Insook Kim(Professor at College of Nursing, Mo-Im Kim Nursing Research Institute, Yonsei University)