‘Significant milestone’: Canada’s blood ban will soon be eradicated – CTV

April 28, 2022

A policy change years in the making, on Thursday Health Canada approved Canadian Blood Services’ submission to eliminate the three-month donor deferral period for gay and bisexual men as well as some other folks in the LGBTQ2S+ community.

Moving away from a blanket ban, the national blood donor organization will be able to screen all donors regardless of gender or sexuality. Instead, donors will be screened based on their sexual behaviours.

Canadian Blood Services (CBS) is expected to introduce the new behaviour-based questionnaire approach by Sept. 30. It will apply to both blood and plasma donations.

It will mean that when donors are screened before rolling up their sleeves, they’ll be asked whether they have recently engaged in anal sex in the context of new or multiple sexual partners within a certain amount of time.

“Sexual behaviour, not sexual orientation, determines the risk of sexual transmission of blood borne pathogens,” said Dr. Isra Levy, Canadian Blood Services’ vice-president of medical affairs, at the organization’s latest board meeting on Dec. 3, just prior to the organization submitting the request to change their policy.

Read more: https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/health-canada-approves-canadian-blood-services-request-to-lift-blood-ban-1.5880056

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