Following a review of current policies by the Advisory Committee on the Safety of Blood, Tissues and Organs (SaBTO) regarding the exclusion and deferral from blood donation, the UK Government announced that it will change its policies to allow gay men to donate blood after a 12 months deferral period. So far gay men had not been allowed to donate blood.
Based on evidence for improved testing and screening technologies and also regarding anti-discrimination issues, the NAT (National AIDS Trust) called for a proactive, comprehensive and evidence-based review to lift the lifetime ban imposed on gay men donating blood. The call for the review was strongly supported from other HIV and LGBT organizations. The Terrence Higgins Trust, which had been working with NHS Blood and Transplant and the GMFA, both joined NAT and THT on the advisory group for the review.
Carl Burnell, Chief Executive of GMFA, the gay men’s health charity, said:
“The removal of the ban to a one year deferral is great news but it’s going to leave some gay men frustrated that they still can’t donate blood. However the one-year deferral is based on scientific evidence to ensure the safety of the blood supply in relation to hepatitis B and HIV. Gay men can play their part in ensuring the UK has a safe supply of blood for everyone, including gay men, by adhering to the one-year deferral.
It will be news to most that hepatitis B, rather than HIV has kept the deferral period to one year. Hepatitis B is completely preventable if you get vaccinated against it, and I’d urge all gay men to do so. If all gay men get vaccinated against Hepatitis B, and prevalence of hepatitis B falls in our community as a result, it would be appropriate to re-examine the evidence and reduce the deferral period even further.”
Deborah Jack, Chief Executive of NAT (National AIDS Trust), added:
“The lifetime ban on gay men donating blood has been at the centre of much controversy and debate in recent years, particularly as it became clear that this rule and current science were completely out of sync. NAT was instrumental in securing a proactive, time-based review of the present lifetime bans on blood donation and we are delighted to see the review’s recommendations for change being implemented. This decision is now based on evidence and the safety of the blood supply will be maintained. However, we are adamant that this decision will need to be reviewed again in the future as science and the HIV epidemic evolves, and new evidence emerges. We must ensure that changes in these areas are proactively monitored so that we avoid having out-dated rules in place that do not benefit the public and instead simply discriminate against certain groups.”
Sir Nick Partridge, Chief Executive of the Terrence Higgins Trust (THT), concluded:
“We welcome this decision, which is based on strong new evidence that all the experts are agreed on. These regulations will ensure the safety of the blood supply for all of us while also being fair and equal in their application. We can now detect blood-borne viruses earlier and have more understanding of them, and the change reflects that.
‘The remaining deferral regulation for sexually active gay men is based on their heightened risk, as a group, of sexually acquired blood-borne viruses. Changing that depends on reducing gay men’s risk of HIV and other STIs to the same level as the rest of the population, and re-emphasizing the vital importance of safer sex as far too many gay men still become infected with HIV each year. We will continue to campaign to improve gay men’s sexual health to a level where the regulations can be the same for all, regardless of sexuality.”
Current UK law does not allow males who have, during their lifetime, had homosexual oral or anal sex, regardless of protection, to donate blood. The updated law will only apply to men who have not had sex (oral/anal) with men during the previous 12 months before donation.
Blood donor selection criteria, as well as other stringent safety measures, make UK donated blood among the safest in the world. The safe blood supply was also the focus of SaBTO’s review, which concluded that the majority of the latest scientific evidence proves that safety levels will be maintained following the rule change.
Since 2005, the UK has no documented transmission of a blood-borne virus through blood transfusions and no HIV transmission since 2002.
The new rule of lifting the permanent ban on gay men donating blood and replacing it with a 12 month deferral period is not only in synch with current science and evidence, it also conforms to equality laws which prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation. Differences in the treatment of gay men must be impartial, based on evidence and appropriate risk assessment.
Although HIV can already be detected four weeks following infection, however, detecting hepatitis B can take up to 12 months as the virus has periods in which it cannot be detected during screening. It is for this reason, and in consideration of the elevated levels of blood-borne viruses among gay men, that a deferral period of one year been determined.
Sir Nick Partridge said:
“We are pleased to welcome this rule change for gay men, we will continue to encourage SaBTO to regularly review their restrictions on blood donation related to sexual behavior, including other groups in addition to gay men. Particularly as the epidemics around blood-borne viruses evolve and scientific evidence changes and advances.”
Written by Petra Rattue