Australia has scrapped its rules banning sexually active gay and bisexual men from donating blood and plasma – from 14 July this year – with authorities expecting this to unlock thousands more donors.
The Guardian reports that current rules prevent gay and bisexual men and transgender women who have had sex with men in the past three months from donating – the policy change means most HIV negative people who take antiretroviral medication to prevent infection (pre-exposure prophylaxis) will now be able to donate plasma without a waiting period.
The national blood, milk and microbiota donation service (Lifeblood) anticipates an extra 24 000 donors and 95 000 extra donations of plasma each year.
“Extensive research and modelling show that there will be no impact to the safety of the plasma supply with this change,” it said.
Health Equity Matters CEO Dash Heath-Paynter said the change “potentially unlocks thousands of donations of life-saving plasma, which is in high demand in Australian hospitals”.
The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) has also approved a submission to remove gender-based sexual activity rules for blood and platelets donation eligibility.
“Currently, every time men donate, we ask them whether they have had anal sex with another man,” said Dr Jo Pink, Lifeblood’s chief medical officer.
This carries on “from the HIV period, which was a very difficult time”, she said, and there will now also be a move to “gender-neutral rules”.
All donors will be asked the same questions about their sexual activity, and most people in a sexual relationship of six months or more with one partner will be eligible to donate blood. Most people with new or multiple partners will also be able to donate if they have not had anal sex in the past three months.
The blood donation questionnaire change still needs “a little bit of work” and will be implemented sometime in 2026, Pink said.
“I know our LBGTIQ + community is very keen to donate. So I’m hoping they’ll blast that number out of the park and we will get heaps of donations.”
The Let Us Give campaign, which advocated to lift the ban in 2022 amid a shortage of donations, welcomed the TGA’s approval but said the new rules are not best practice.
“We thank the TGA and Lifeblood for removing the ban,” said Let Us Give spokesperson Rodney Croone, adding that LGBTIQA+ people and allies had been working hard for decades to achieve a gender-neutral blood donation policy.
“The overseas experience shows that asking all donors the same gender-neutral questions is a win/win because it does not increase disease risk, opens up a vital new source of safe blood and makes the blood supply less discriminatory.”
While welcoming the news, Let Us Give researcher Dr Sharon Dane said Lifeblood and the TGA are taking a more conservative approach than other countries like the UK, Canada and US, where three months of a monogamous relationship if engaging in anal sex is required.
Croome said the rule TGA approved – sexual monogamy for six months or no anal sex for three months – will be confusing for donors and is not global best-practice.
“Nonetheless, this is a big step forward and we hope … Australia’s whole blood donor policy will change to be in keeping with best-practice nations,” Dane said.
See more from MedicalBrief archives:
New US guidance allows more gay men to donate blood
Landmark UK change to LGBT blood donation rules but Africa restriction remains