The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) proposed this Friday allow gay and bisexual men in monogamous unions to donate blood without having to go through a period of prior sexual abstinenceas it has been up to now.
It’s a statement, the fda released new guidelines that would make this change possible as long as the donor has not had sexual relations with someone who is not their stable partner in the last three months.
For years, the US prohibited men in homosexual relationships from donating blood; a measure that originated in the 1980s during the toughest years of AIDS. fda lifted that ban in 2015 but it indicated that gay and bisexual men should abstain from sex for a year before donating blood.
according to the newspaper The Wall Street Journalduring the Covid-19 pandemic and due to the blood shortage, the US authorities shortened the period of sexual abstinence prior to three months.
The new guidelines propose subjecting all donors to the same prior questions, regardless of their gender or sexual orientation.
“Maintaining a safe and adequate blood supply in the US is paramount for the FDA and this proposal for an individual risk assessment, regardless of gender or sexual orientation, will allow us to continue to use the best science to do so,” said FDA Chairman Robert M. Califf.
The FDA already advanced in November that it was studying an update to its recommendations, after funding a pilot study, dubbed ADVANCE, which was carried out in community health care centers in various parts of the US to see if this change was feasible.
The analysis was carried out by three of the main blood donation centers in the country – Vitalant, OneBlood and the American Red Cross – with a sample of 2,000 men from the LGBTI community.
