Canadian Blood Services now allows some gay, bisexual men to donate plasma in Calgary, London, Ont.
CBC
Canadian Blood Services is taking the first steps to allowing gay and bisexual men who have sex with men — which it calls the gbMSM community — to donate blood plasma, which is starting in two test cities: Calgary, Alta., and London, Ont.
It marks the first time the agency is opening donations to gay and bisexual men. For years, their policy of not allowing that demographic to donate has been criticized as 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 partners have not had sex with another partner.
Canadian Blood Services made the announcement on its website on Tuesday and on social media, which garnered reaction ranging from welcoming the move to saying the agency needs to do more.
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.
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