Canadian Blood Services allowing some gay, bisexual men to donate plasma in Calgary, London, Ont.
CBC
Canadian Blood Services is taking the first steps to allow gay and bisexual men who have sex with men (gbMSM) to donate blood plasma in two test cities, Calgary, Alta., and London, Ont.
It's the first time that the agency is opening donations up to gay and bisexual men, years after many have called a prohibition on their donations discriminatory.
"We're excited to welcome more members of the gbMSM community into our London and Calgary plasma donor centres," Dr. Graham Sher, CEO of Canadian Blood Services, said in a statement. "This is an important step toward our goal of removing the waiting period for gbMSM donors and using sexual behaviour-based screening for all donors instead."
In Calgary and London, men who have sex with men are now eligible to donate source plasma if they have not had a new sexual partner in the last three months, and if their partner has not had sex with another partner.
Canadian Blood Services quietly made the announcement on its website on Tuesday. Plasma is the straw-coloured liquid component left when blood cells are removed from whole blood. It contains nutrients and immune molecules like antibodies, and donations can be done more frequently than blood donations.
Men who have had sexual contact with another man in the last three months are still not eligible to donate blood. The agency says its hoping to apply to Health Canada by the end of 2021 to have that criteria removed, moving away from a blanket ban to a screening process instead that asks about sexual behaviour, as it does for other donors.
"Men are able to donate source plasma every week at our London and Calgary donor centres. Plasma donated by gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men in London and Calgary will be made into plasma protein products when the donor comes in at least 60 days later with a plasma donation that tests negative for infectious diseases," Blood Services said in a statement.
Amanda Nahwegahbow, 38, is being remembered by her family as a vibrant and resilient woman who could light up any room.
As Nova Scotia bucks a national trend of declining rent prices, the province’s housing minister said he's hopeful that work to stimulate more construction will lead to improvements.
When the New Brunswick Health Council released its report this week on avoidable deaths in the province, one area stood out.
Almost once a month for almost a year, Kathleen Toman has left her home in Balsam Lake, Ont., for Mont-Tremblant, Que. This weekend, she’ll make the 500-kilometre trip again, meeting her ex-husband, Chris Toman, there.
A charity in Chase, B.C., has secured funding that it hopes will improve child-care services in the community by training new childhood educators.
Ontario is seeking feedback on a potential amendment to the Coroners Act that may replace mandatory inquests into jail deaths with coroner-led annual reviews.
Paul Myllyniemi takes the bus to work in Thunder Bay, Ont., every day — except when it doesn’t show up.
Residents in the Greater Toronto Area are digging themselves out and going back to their regular weekday schedules a day after a major snowstorm.
Commuters hoping to escape the cold by travelling on Line 6 will need to think again, as train service is down Friday morning.
Halim Rahim has lived in Canada for almost four years, but says he’s never experienced a winter like this.
For Lindsay Gillan, walking her dog, Daisy, twice a day in Charlottetown’s Victoria Park is a treasured routine that benefits both her physical and mental health.
Whitehorse city council has postponed its decision on an overhaul of its zoning bylaws that would, among other things, introduce short-term rental regulations in the city.
Prime Minister Mark Carney says he has reached a deal with China to allow tens of thousands of Chinese electric vehicles into the country in exchange for lower canola duties.