Blood services re-evaluate gay donor rule

IN an attempt to help answer the South African National Blood Service’s (SANBS) cry for more blood stock last week, one gay Zululander felt offended when he was turned away owing to the organisation’s strict conditions for men who have sex with men (MSM).

In his letter to the Zululand Observer, ‘My bloed is ook rooi’, he said it was discrimination, especially for a healthy person in a committed long-term relationship such as himself.

SANBS responded to this grievance, stating the organisation has to follow an international standard together with continuous research and investigation on how best to adjust guidelines relevant for the South African community.

‘We have been placed among countries with the safest blood supply in the world,’ said SANBS Communications Manager Vanessa Raju.

‘Unfortunately, this means that men who have sex with men (MSM) cannot donate blood for a period of time, which varies from country to country with some countries having a lifetime ban.

‘SANBS originally had a five-year deferral, but this was changed at the end of 2005 to a six-month deferral.

‘Over this time SANBS needed local data to change this, as the HIV statistics in South Africa are far higher amongst heterosexual people than among gay men.

‘This prompted a task team from various stakeholders to work with SANBS and the Western Province Blood Transfusion Service to reassess this deferral.’

Raju said all data collected will be implemented for a new Self Exclusion Questionnaire from the middle of May.

‘The changes to the questionnaire focus highly on the sexual risk behaviour of donors and not on their sexual orientation.

‘Any donor who has a new sexual partner or multiple partners in the preceding six months, would be deemed a risk and deferred for this period.

‘As always our priority is to ensure we collect safe and sufficient blood for the patients in need and as new scientific developments and better methods for determining risk are available, SANBS will continually make the necessary changes to be up-to-date and relevant.’