Can i give blood if i am a gay man

The new screening process focuses on individual risk factors. For at least a decade, Chris Van Bibber had been prevented from donating blood. The year-old from Salt Lake City, Utah -- who is openly gay -- was restricted due to rules set in place by the U. However, this past May, the FDA dropped all restrictions specific to gay and bisexual men donating blood, moving to a new blood donation risk assessment tool that is the same for every donor regardless of how they identify, which rolled out in August.

The new policy is one that public health experts and gay rights activists said had been a long time coming. This led to the FDA instituting a lifetime ban on gay and bisexual men from donating blood as well as women who have sex with men who have sex with men. That policy became outdated…and yet we did not see a change in the policies related to this permanent ban or permanent deferral," she continued.

Inthe blanket ban was repealed but the FDA placed restrictions that men who have sex with men could donate if they were abstinent from sex for at least one year. Inthis was shortened to a period of 90 days of abstinence. Scientists and advocates argued that not having policies that backed science was discriminating.

For Van Bibber, the desire to donate blood is partly due to family history.

Men who have sex with men (MSM)

His mother, Sheri, suffered a life-threatening medical complication when he was born and needed a blood donation to save her life. Van Bibber said he grew up understanding the significance of blood donation, especially because his blood type is O-negative and can be used in transfusions for any blood type.

Sheri works for the Red Cross organizing blood drives so his family would donate regularly. However, he said he felt like an outsider compared to the rest of his family who was able to donate while he wasn't. This year, the FDA announced it would no longer be issuing blanket bans due to sexual orientation and instead screen potential donors on their risk of contracting and transmitting HIV, with the policy going into effect in August.

At the time, the federal health agency said it would use "gender-inclusive, individual risk-based questions" without compromising "the safety or availability of the blood supply. Questionnaires ask all donors about new or multiple sexual partners in the past three months.

Those who have had a new sexual partner or multiple partners in the past three months and a history of anal sex during that time period will be deferred. Those taking medications to treat or prevent HIV infection will also be deferred. The new blood donation risk assessment is the same for every donor regardless of how they identify.

It follows several other Western countries that have recently dropped bans or eased restrictions including the United Kingdom, France, Greece and the Netherlands. Van Bibber said when he first heard the FDA was considering making the policy change, he was initially wary, but he was excited when it was made official.

This is absolutely the first step to take, and science is going to keep working with us and it's only going to go up from here. Experts said this new policy focuses on individual risk, taking into account that many donors are monogamous, test HIV negative and practice safe sex.

Experts are also hopeful that more donors will help address the blood supply. On Sept. While blood donations have increased since then, it can take weeks for levels to rebound, the Red Cross said. Van Bibber said the response from the LGBTQ community has been positive with people coming forward to donate who didn't realize they were now eligible or sharing their own first-time donation experience.

However, he and others say there is more work to be done. One way to make blood donation even more inclusive would be to expand eligibility to those on a medication called PrEP pre-exposure prophylaxis, which is a daily pill containing two medications that prevent HIV-negative patients from being infected, they said.

Miyashita Ochoa said she hopes the risk assessment convinces more people not only to reduce stigma but encourage more people to donate. And this is about an opportunity to participate in a more just in a more right scientific assessment of risk.