Blood ban to be lifted for some gay men

April 12, 2011

The British government is prepared to lift a ban on gay men donating blood, but only for those men who have not had sex for ten years prior.

According to the Sunday Times, public health minister Anne Milton is due to make the announcement shortly.

Although all blood is tested for HIV, a small number is missed because of a window between the time the blood was infected and donated.

The amount of risk to the blood supply increases for those men who haven’t had sex with men for five years and is half that risk for those men who haven’t had sex with another man for 10 years.
 

An estimated seven per cent of sexually active gay men donate blood.

Campaigners seeking to end the ban point out that many gay men practice safe sex, are celibate or in a monogamous relationship.

According to the Terrence Higgins Trust, 42 per cent of all men with HIV in the UK are gay men and 54 are heterosexuals with a majority from Africa. A total of 86,500 people in the UK have HIV.

A government source said to the Sunday Times: “A complete ban is unfair and discriminatory but we need to protect public health, so the ten-year rule is what is being considered.”
 

Image author Albert Bridge