Photo by Marja Helander
Health Canada has decided to change its policy regarding blood donations from men who have sex with men (MSM).
The policy has been that MSMs can only donate blood if they have abstained from sexual contact with another man for a period of 5 years. As of August 15, that period will be shortened to 1 year.
The change is a result of proposals from Canada’s blood operators, Canadian Blood Services and Héma-Québec.
These proposals included scientific data indicating that decreasing the deferral period for MSMs would not affect the safety of the blood supply.
The change brings Canada in line with several other countries that have implemented a 1-year deferral period for MSM blood donors, including the US, Australia, New Zealand, England, Scotland, and France.
Health Canada said the country’s blood system continues to have rigorous scientific and screening processes in place to protect the safety of Canadians.
Canadian Blood Services and Héma-Québec will continue to screen all donations for HIV and other infections. As an extra precaution, Health Canada and the blood operators will monitor donations from new donors to see if there is an increase in HIV or other infection rates.
According to Health Canada, there has not been a single HIV infection from blood transfusion in Canada in 25 years.
However, the frequency of HIV infection remains higher among MSMs (10%) than among heterosexuals or lesbians (less than 1% for both). And it was because of this that Canada implemented the 5-year deferral period for MSM blood donors. Prior to the implementation of that policy, MSMs were completely barred from donating blood in Canada.
“It has been demonstrated that implementing a 5-year temporary exclusion in 2013 had no impact on the safety of the transfusion system,” said Marc Germain, vice-president of medical affairs at Héma-Québec.
“As a result of recent data concerning transfusion safety, the exclusion policy applied to men who have had sex with another man could be reviewed. [The new 1-year deferral period] is scientifically justified and will not endanger the very high level of safety of blood products.”
“This is an exciting, incremental step forward in updating our blood donation criteria based on the latest scientific evidence,” said Graham Sher, chief executive officer of Canadian Blood Services.
“Canadian Blood Services is dedicated to being as minimally restrictive as possible while also maintaining the safety of the blood supply.”
Canadian Blood Services said it is exploring the possibility of moving toward behavior-based screening of blood donors. The organization is working with researchers, the LGBTQ community, patient groups, and other stakeholders to determine how best to gather the scientific evidence required to determine future changes to donor eligibility criteria.
