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Eligibility to donate plasma will be based on an individualized assessment of risk behaviours, rather than on the person’s membership in a group considered at risk. Gay and bisexual men are not automatically prevented from giving blood. “What will change in the fall of 2022: Héma-Québec will abandon the current three-month temporary deferral period for men who have had sex with men for plasma donations.
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It will then be expanded in the spring of 2023 for blood and platelet donations,” a spokesperson said. “The first step will be implemented next fall for plasma donations. At the time, organizations advocating for gay men worried that this ban on blood donations would stigmatize them. Héma-Québec, Canada’s blood operator in the province, told Global News it is pursuing a “two-step” approach to make donations more inclusive for men who have sex with men. This led to a lifelong ban in 1986 on gay and bisexual men from donating blood. Windsor Pride Community is a charitable organization aiming to create a culture of belonging for Windsor-Essex’s LGBTQ people and their families, allies, employers and educators through education, empowerment and support programs and services.3:54 A look at Canada’s ban on blood donation from gay men and what’s next A look at Canada’s ban on blood donation from gay men and what’s next – May 23, 2021Ĭanadian Blood Services added it will spend the next few months preparing to implement the new criteria, including system and process updates, as well as “robust training” for employees. The waiting period then dropped to one year, and became three months in 2019. In 2013, it allowed blood to be accepted from a man who abstained from sex with another man for at least five years. "I do see the LGBTQ community as a very giving community, so I do believe they would increase donations and they would go forward without regards to be eligible to donate now," he adds.Ĭanada introduced a lifetime ban for gay men in 1992 partly because of H-I-V. Holmes calls this is a milestone toward a more inclusive blood donation system nationwide. Back in 1981, it made sense to exclude gay men from.
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HIV was identified as the cause of AIDS two years later and, after an HIV screening test was developed, the FDA mandated HIV screening for the blood supply in 1985. The agency says asking about sexual behaviour, rather than sexual orientation, will allow it to more reliably assess the risk of infections such as HIV that can be transmitted through infusions. Blood safety officials took the step of excluding from blood donation those emerging as the first risk groups: gay men. Under the new policy, donors will also be asked whether they have had anal sex with any of those partners and if they have, then they will need to wait three months since that activity before donating blood. "We do look at it also too that the general population was suffering as well because there were less donors in the pool."
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"It does send a message that we were being discriminated based on our sexual orientation and that isn't a good message for any community to be receiving," he says. Holmes says the previous policy left the LGBTQ community without the ability to donate, which also hurt the greater community. 30, potential donors will be asked if they have had new or multiple sexual partners in the last three months, no matter their gender or sexual orientation. The move will scrap questions about gender or sexuality, basing screening on higher-risk sexual behaviour such as anal sex instead. The Food and Drug Administration on Thursday said it would loosen some of the restrictions that have blocked gay and bisexual men from donating blood. Health Canada has approved a request from Canadian Blood Services to end the policy that restricts men who have sex with men from donating blood for three months. "It's about a decade of advocacy from the LGBTQ advocates in the community, going to the government and discussing why these policies are not lined up and how they should be executed," he says. Both the Red Cross and Americas Blood Centers, which together represent 800. hospitals and a desire to get plasma with antibodies from COVID-19 survivors. In response to the AIDS crisis, Canada in 1992 banned men who have sex with men from donating. The chair of Windsor Pride Community is elated that Health Canada is ending a restriction on gay men donating blood.Ĭolm Holmes says they're really excited whenever discriminatory policy is replaced with policy rooted in scientific, evidence-based knowledge. NBC News found that despite the rule change hundreds of the nation’s blood centers are still unable to accept blood from gay men, even though theres a desperate need for blood at U.S. Canada will allow gay and bisexual men to donate blood without restrictions starting in September.