Landmark change to blood donation criteria
Men who have sex with men in a long-term relationship will be able to donate blood in England following changes to blood donation criteria.
From:
14 December 2020
New criteria focuses on individual behaviours, and lifts a blanket deferral for men who have had sex with men in the last 3 months
Policy is based on findings from the ‘
FAIR’ report
Changes will have no impact on the safety of blood donated in the UK
Men who have sex with men in a long-term relationship will be able to donate blood in England following changes to blood donation criteria announced by Health and Social Care Secretary Matt Hancock today. The move, which will also be implemented in each of the devolved administrations, sees the UK become one of the first countries in the world to adopt a more individualised risk-based approach to donor selection criteria.
More Gay and Bisexual Men Can Give Blood After U.K. Rule Change
On 12/14/20 at 10:46 AM EST
Blood donation rules that apply to gay and bisexual men are changing in the U.K. in a step campaigners have called a milestone day for equality .
All blood donors who have had one sexual partner and who have been with their sexual partner for more than three months will now be eligible to donate regardless of their gender, the gender of their partner or the type of sex they have. Under previous rules, all men who have sex with men had to abstain from sex for three months in order to donate due to the risk of HIV. The policy has long been seen to generalize and discriminate against gay and bisexual men.