Gay men to achieve parity when it comes to blood donation
Homosexual men in Switzerland will be treated on par with heterosexuals when it comes to the mandatory waiting period prior to donating blood.
The Swiss medicines regulator Swissmedic has approved the request to amend the criteria for men who have sex with men.
Until 2017, gay men were completely excluded from donating blood. Since then, they have only been eligible to donate blood if they have not had sex with men in the last 12 months.
Soon however, the same rules will apply to heterosexual as well as homosexual sexual contacts.
“In keeping with the request from Swiss Transfusion SRC, a four-month deferral period now applies to all persons after the last new sexual contact, or a 12-month deferral period if sexual contacts have taken place with more than two partners within the last four months,” stated an official press release on Tuesday.
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The new rule will come into force from November 1. According to Swissmedic, “it is based on an updated risk assessment of various sexual behaviours and takes due account of the epidemiological situation in Switzerland as well as data from other countries that have already adapted their donation criteria accordingly”.
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