More gay and bisexual men will soon be able to donate blood and plasma following a long called for update to the rules.
Medsafe has approved the change which would introduce an evidence-based assessment that would apply to all donors — regardless of gender or sexual orientation.
Currently, men who have had sex with men in the past three months are ineligible to give blood due to concerns around HIV.
Blood Service chief medical officer Dr Sarah Morley said the new assessment would ask the same questions of every donor to assess potential risks for sexually transmitted infections.
“Achieving Medsafe approval means NZBS is one step closer to introducing individualised donor assessments.”
She said that the testing regime needed to be updated to align with global best practice to ensure safety of plasma products.
“We know this change has been a long time coming, so we want to thank people for their continued patience.
“We are committed to change, and we look forward to soon welcoming more gay, bisexual, takatāpui and other men who have sex with men into our whānau of lifesavers.”
The change follows New Zealand’s most comprehensive study on blood donation and HIV prevention, known as SPOTS (Sex and Prevention of Transmission Study).
University of Auckland associate professor Peter Saxton, who led the study, said this would mean around three times more gay and bisexual men would be eligible to give blood.
“SPOTS data show that four out of five gay and bisexual men in NZ wanted to donate blood if the rules were changed and they were allowed to donate.
“Importantly, our data suggest this would be safe for blood recipients. We found no participants with confirmed undiagnosed HIV.”
The current blanket rules meant those in monogamous same-sex relationships, for example, were not allowed to donate.
The Blood Service had wanted to modernise but lacked local evidence to strengthen their case until now, he said.
“Therefore, we are delighted that SPOTS participants are helping improve NZ’s blood donor policy.”
