Canadian Blood Services changes donation screening to focus on behaviour, not sexuality

Health Canada has authorized the Canadian Blood Services to remove blood donation restrictions on men who have sex with other men and screen everyone for high-risk sexual behaviours regardless of gender or sexuality.

Health Canada calls the decision “a significant milestone toward a more inclusive blood donation system nationwide” and comes after a thorough review of evidence and scientific experts weighing in to support the safety of the change.

Canadian Blood Services’ new screening approach, which is expected to be implemented by Sept. 30, is sexual behaviour-based and will apply to anyone who donates blood or plasma.

Potential donors will be asked if they have had new or multiple sexual partners in the last three months, no matter their gender or sexuality. They will then be asked whether they have had anal sex with any of those partners and if they have, then they will need to wait three months since that activity before donating blood.

“What we’re trying to address here is maintaining the high safety of our blood system and Canada while increasing the sufficiency and availability of blood products for those of us for those who need them whenever they need them,” Dr. Nathan Lachowsky with the Community-Based Research Centre said.

“It’s long overdue. We’ve been asking as a community for these kinds of change in policy for well over a decade and it’s great that we finally have had this acceptance by Health Canada,” he said.

Although Lachowsky celebrates the change, he says there are still people excluded who are safe to donate.

“This change does still discriminate against folks who live in multiple partnerships…and or who engage in anal sex,” he said, adding that generally as a big group they are more likely to be at risk for infections.

“So this is certainly a huge milestone, but it’s one step… we’ll continue to push for increased inclusion and equity in terms of these policies.”

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In 2013, the government health agency lifted a lifetime ban on blood donations from men who have sex with men and changed the deferral period to five years. It was then shortened to one year in 2016 and to three months in 2019.

The agency says asking about sexual behaviour, rather than sexual orientation, will allow it to more reliably assess the risk of infections such as HIV that can be transmitted through infusions.

It also says the shift comes after “countless hours” of work by LGBTQ2S+ and other groups, who have long advocated for a change in policy.  Lachowsky says that while Health Canada may be moving forward, Héma-Québec has not made a similar announcement.

“So I think that’s an important piece that’s going to create a bit of disparity within our country, where depending on where you’re living, you may be able to donate and you may not. What we are hoping is that with this change with Canadian Blood Services that we can do the research to be able to show Héma-Québec, that this is also a safe change that they can implement in that province.”

While Canada is far behind other countries which do not have any deferral period, there do remain several countries where gay men are still banned from donating blood indefinitely. A list provided by CBRC includes Austria, Greece, Iceland, and Turkey.

–With files from Haley Jarmain and The Canadian Press