Can gay men donate blood prep
The study will be used to decide if a risk-based questionnaire will maintain the safety of the blood supply, as it is used to do in other countries.Ĭountries that still have lifelong bans on gay and bi men donating blood – and no current plans to lift them – include Singapore and Trinidad and Tobago. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) is funding a pilot study that will enrol 2,000 gay and bi men, whose blood will be tested for HIV and pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), a drug which can be taken to prevent HIV infection. Lithuania also plans to introduce a similar system.Ĭampaigns by LGBTQ+ activists to remove abstinence periods continue in countries such as the United States. Slovenia, which currently has a lifetime ban on donations from gay men, plans to shift to a system of individual risk-based assessments using questionnaires. WHICH OTHER COUNTRIES COULD LOOSEN RULES? New Zealand and Australia made similar announcements in 2020, while Britain said it would move to a risk-based approach, which came into force in 2021. In April 2020, for example, the United States cut a 12-month waiting period for gay and bi men giving blood to three months, having reported a dramatic slump in donations. The first wave of the coronavirus pandemic also created pressure to drop sexuality-based bars on donations, after the cancellation of blood drives led to a drop in supplies. Meanwhile, LGBTQ+ campaigners have decried bans and abstinence periods for gay and bi men as discriminatory, saying they reflect stigma and stereotypes rather than science. Some countries have dropped bars on gay and bi men giving blood entirely, with states such as Italy moving to individual risk-based assessments that treat gay and heterosexual people equally. However, since then technology to check blood for potential issues has improved, and donations are systematically screened for viruses such as HIV and hepatitis B and C. Many countries introduced blood donation controls during the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the 1980s when infected blood – much of which was donated by drug users and prisoners – contaminated supplies and put recipients at risk of infection. The new coalition government has since said it plans to do away with all remaining restrictions on gay and bi men donating blood. Men who have been in a monogamous same-sex relationship for at least a year can now donate, with officials considering easing rules for those without long-term partners.Ī similar policy for men in monogamous same-sex relationships came into force the same month in Germany. In September, the Netherlands dropped a four-month celibacy requirement. Other countries which have lifted bans or eased restrictions in recent years include Hungary, Denmark, Brazil and the United States.
He posted a photo of himself giving blood shortly afterwards, writing, “Our blood is equal”.
Israel’s health minister Nitzan Horowitz, who is gay, lifted all restrictions on blood donations for gay and bi men in October 2021. WHERE ARE GAY BLOOD DONATION BANS BEING REMOVED? Which other countries are lifting such bans and why? The measures, both announced this week, are the latest in a wave of countries lifting blood donation restrictions on gay and bi men that were often first put in place during the early years of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the 1980s. Greece has lifted a decades-old ban on gay and bisexual men giving blood, while France has announced it will scrap rules requiring a year of abstinence from gay sex to donate.