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However, there are concerns that the lack of clarity could leave the door open for discrimination. The new rule changes have been welcomed as significant in lessening discrimination against gay and bisexual men, recommended by the Advisory Committee on the Safety of Blood, Tissues and Organs, which advises UK health departments. The previous rules prevented men who have sex with men from donating blood unless they abstained from sex for three months before donation, which led some to break the discriminatory rules in order to donate blood. The changes follow an evidence-based review into individualised criteria conducted by For the Assessment of Individualised Risk (FAIR) led by NHS Blood and Transplant.
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Credit: UnsplashĪs all donors can potentially carry infections, the new guidelines adopt a “more individualised, risk-based approach” to donor selection criteria. To equalise the process, all potential donors will be asked the same questions about their sexual history to confirm that they are eligible to donate blood.īlood samples being dropped into test tubes. Implemented in summer, the rules will allow people who have one sexual partner and have been with their partner for more than three months to donate blood regardless of their gender, the gender of their partner, or the type of sex they have. “This landmark change to blood donation is safe and it will allow many more people, who have previously been excluded by donor selection criteria, to take the opportunity to help save lives,” said Matt Hancock, Health Secretary at the time of the announcement. The new criteria will now allow men who have sex with men in a monogamous relationship to donate blood. In what some considered a breach of Article 14 of the Human Rights Act protecting marginalised groups from discrimination, any man who had sex with a man in the last three months was previously ineligible for blood donation. Blood donation rules for gay and bisexual men have been relaxed across the UK in a “landmark change”, but are the modifications enough to eradicate discrimination?