Canadian Blood Services to recommend end of blood donation ban on gay, bisexual men – National

An finish to the ban on homosexual and bisexual males from donating blood — promised by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in 2015 — is about to be really useful inside weeks in favour of recent screening standards based mostly on sexual historical past and behavior.

Canadian Blood Companies is getting ready to ask Well being Canada to permit it to scrap questions on gender or sexuality, basing screening on higher-risk sexual behaviour as an alternative. Potential donors may very well be requested if they’ve had a number of sexual companions, and about their sexual behaviour as an alternative of their sexuality and gender.

“Sexual behaviour, not sexual orientation, determines danger of sexual transmission of HIV. Our proposed standards will intention to exactly and reliably establish those that might have a transfusion-transmissible an infection, particularly within the window interval, no matter gender or sexual orientation,: help Catherine Lewis, a spokeswoman for Canadian Blood Companies, who declined to touch upon the specifics of the advice.

Presently males volunteering to provide blood are requested if they’ve had intercourse with a person within the final three months. Ladies wishing to donate are requested if within the final three months they’ve had intercourse with a person who within the final 12 months had intercourse with one other man.

The blood service says it’s getting ready to quote proof from international locations which don’t ask donors such questions, in addition to analysis on danger of HIV transmission, in its submission to Well being Canada throughout the subsequent six weeks.

A examine of analysis into HIV transmission between January 2001 and Could 2012 by the Public Well being Company of Canada discovered that “all research constantly reported that anal intercourse is a higher-risk act than vaginal intercourse, which in flip is a higher-risk act than oral intercourse.”

The way in which the screening is at the moment arrange lacks nuance, and likewise doesn’t deal with people who find themselves transgender, two-spirit, or in any other case don’t affirm to binary genders, stated Nathan Lachowsky, one among a number of researchers whose work will inform Canadian Blood Companies’ utility.

“There’s a method wherein to create options which might be gender impartial, which means it’s not about who you might be when it comes to your intercourse and gender,” stated Lachowsky, an assistant professor within the Faculty of Public Well being and Social Coverage at College of Victoria. “That simplifies the system and makes it extra accessible to extra Canadians.”

The U.Ok. standards for blood donation, which Blood Companies says it has been contemplating together with that from different international locations,doesn’t embrace questions on sexual orientation. It asks potential donors whether or not they have had a number of companions and engaged in anal intercourse.

Homosexual and bisexual males who’ve had the identical associate for 3 months or extra may give blood within the UK. However anybody who has had anal intercourse with a brand new associate or a number of companions within the earlier three months _ no matter their associate’s gender _ should wait three months earlier than donating.

Because it stands now in Canada, a homosexual man who has had intercourse with one associate within the final three months can not give blood, however a straight man can, irrespective of what number of companions he has had intercourse with throughout the identical time-frame.

Whereas Canadian Blood Companies exams all of its donated blood merchandise for a complete host of illnesses, together with HIV, the company says no check is 100 per cent correct.

That’s why eligibility screening is such an essential a part of limiting the danger to blood recipients, in accordance with the company’s web site.

Lachowsky, who didn’t touch upon the precise questions that will likely be included within the Canadian proposal, stated a impartial strategy makes way more sense than basing restrictions on gender and sexuality.

“That signifies that we’re growing, in my thoughts, the protection of the blood system broadly,” he stated.

Trudeau has come below strain from MPs and the LGBTQ neighborhood to scrap questions for donors geared toward homosexual males. Through the election in September, Trudeau promised a change was imminent.

However Randall Garrison, the NDP spokesperson on LGBTQ affairs, stated the change is “lengthy overdue.” He stated many international locations, together with Italy, don’t have any such standards “with none issues.” The MP has been urgent ministers to finish the homosexual and bisexual blood-donation ban for nearly ten years.

“I’ve been calling for a shift to risk-based standards for a decade. I’ve argued there are two issues improper (with this coverage): proscribing the blood provide and selling homophobia,” he stated.

Well being Canada, which regulates the blood service, can solely change the standards if proof is introduced displaying this is not going to improve danger.

Canadian Blood Companies has been analyzing accessible analysis to search out the most secure method to make the change. This contains an MSM (males who’ve intercourse with males) analysis program and a 2020 For the Evaluation of Individualised Danger (FAIR) report from the U.Ok. about blood donation and danger.

The FAIR Report highlighted anal intercourse and “chem intercourse,” or sexualized drug use, as a danger issue, but additionally warned that questions on anal intercourse may deter new donors.

“The protection of Canada’s blood provide will at all times be paramount for us. We now have extra proof than ever earlier than, stemming from the MSM Analysis Program, worldwide knowledge and Canada-specific danger modelling, that signifies sexual behaviour-based screening is not going to introduce danger to the blood provide,” Lewis stated.

Canada launched a lifetime ban for homosexual males in 1992. In 2013 it allowed blood to be accepted from a person who abstained from intercourse with one other man for a minimum of 5 years.

The ready interval then dropped to at least one 12 months, and have become three months in 2019.

As soon as Canadian Blood Companies submits its utility to alter the screening necessities, will probably be as much as Well being Canada to approve it. The method may take a number of months to a 12 months earlier than the modifications take impact.