Mon 19 May 2014 In: New Zealand Daily News View at Wayback View at NDHA
File Photo Lobby group Rainbow Wellington maintains decisions on whether gay and bisexual men can donate blood should be based on individual risk assessments. The New Zealand Blood Service has accepted a recommendation from a review group to cut the stand down time for gay and bisexual men giving blood from five years to 12 months after they last had anal or oral sex with another man. The review group rejected a risk-based assessment of actual sexual behaviour, saying no research has been published in the area, and it would also mean gay and bi men would be hit with invasive in-depth questions about their sex lives. “There is evidence that some MSM who do not comply with donor deferral already find questions about sexual risk too personal,” the group said. “Furthermore, people are not reliable at assessing their own risk. A recent survey in New Zealand found that most MSM who had undiagnosed HIV infection believed that they were definitely or probably uninfected, and many had had a recent negative HIV test.” Rainbow Wellington says the American Medical Association (AMA) has urged a new federal policy change to ensure blood donation bans or deferrals are applied to donors according to their individual level of risk and are not based on sexual orientation alone. “We prefer to follow the AMA, and believe that the science is now sufficiently advanced to move to individual risk assessments,” Rainbow Wellington’s Tony Reed says. “There will always be individuals whose blood will be refused; we do not believe that this should apply any longer to all sexually active gay men in all circumstances. That policy is now surely out of date and we should move on.” Rainbow Wellington has previously lodged a complaint on the issue with the Human Rights Commission, which was ‘parked’ until this report came out. The Rainbow Wellington Board says it will leave it as it is for now, as it does not believe that the time is ripe to move further forward.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Monday, 19th May 2014 - 11:58am