Mon 16 Jun 2008 In: New Zealand Daily News View at Wayback View at NDHA
At a time when the New Zealand Blood Service says the need for people to regularly donate blood is more urgent than ever, an independent expert review has confirmed that men who have had anal or oral sex with other men in the last five years should still be excluded from donating their blood. The NZ Blood Service's rules currently exclude men who have had sex with men in the last ten years from giving blood, as that group of people are shown to be more likely to have contracted HIV. But the expert review paper released today recommends that the time period be reduced to five years, as this would not put the blood supply at any more risk of HIV exposure. The wording of the 'health questions' given to potential blood donors was also under review, with medical experts recommending the phrase "sex, even 'safer sex' using a condom" be clarified to "oral or anal sex with or without a condom". "It is the activities, not sexual orientation, that is the central issue," the report points out in response to criticism that the blood donor criteria discriminates against gay men. "It is not practicable at present to define further specific sexual activities among [men who have sex with men] that should result in exclusion from donation. Lower-risk activities than unprotected anal intercourse, for example, anal intercourse with a condom or oral sex, are still associated with small risks of HIV transmission, and the absolute risk of transmission depends also on the prevalence of HIV among sexual partners, which is higher than for heterosexuals," says the report. When the recommendations are put into practice, New Zealand's blood donor criteria will be in line with South Africa, which also has a 'deferral' period of five years before men who have had sex with men can donate blood. Many countries including Canada, the UK, the USA and France never allow men who have sex with men to donate blood, while Australia and Japan have a deferral period of just one year. Last month, Russia's Ministry of Health and Social Development repealed its blanket ban on blood donations by gay men, admitting that the ban was frequently used to stigmatise gays as a group at high risk of HIV infection along with prostitutes and drug addicts, and should be repealed. The full New Zealand Blood Service report is available to download via the top link below.