Gay men finally allowed to donate blood

In a move set to further entrench gay rights in South Africa, the South African National Blood Service (SANBS) has announced that gay, sexually active men will now also be allowed to donate blood. The move has been lauded by gay rights activists and came into effect in May.

National communications manager at the blood service, Vanessa Raju recently announced that an amendment to the blood donor questionnaire was finally approved and was in effect.

“SANBS [and] the Western Province Blood Transfusion Service… have been working together over the last 24 months to re-look the donor acceptance criteria with regards to the South African Community,” she said.

Raju added that the amendment altered the definition of a “sex/sexual act”, which is now defined as “vaginal sex, oral sex and anal sex”.

This amendment also sees the removal of the male-on-male sex question from the donor form, Raju said.

The revised questionnaire now rather focuses on sexual risk – namely any sexual act or contact with a new partner in the preceding six months – irrespective of sexual orientation.

“As always our priority is to ensure we collect safe and sufficient blood for the patients in need and… SANBS will continually make the necessary changes to be up-to-date and relevant,” she said.

Johan Meyer, health manager at OUT Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community, praised the amendment saying it was good that it was finally introduced.

“We are pleased that it is finally happening, but at the same time we understand why it took so long for it to be amended,” he said.

He stressed that the blood service had to be accurate in collecting data, hence it took this long to amend the form.

The amendment came into effect on 5 May and was approved by the Minister of Health, Dr Aaron Motsoaledi in February 2014.