The relaxed laws will allow many more people donate blood | Photo: Pixabay
Denmark is lifting its ban on gay men donating blood.
The Danish health Minister, Ellen Trane Nørby, revealed plans for a more modernized blood screening system. Gay men can now give if they haven’t slept with another man within four months of donating blood. However, the time period is voided if the person is in a relationship.
The law is expected to come into place sometime in 2019.
‘The authority [patient safety] has found a model we feel is safe and we will therefore incorporate it into Denmark,’ the health minister told Danish news site DR Nyheder.
‘All safety mechanisms in our blood donation system are built on trust and we have some very advanced tests that screen the blood.’
Gay men face a blood donation ban across the world
The UK relaxed the blood donation ban for men who have engaged in oral or anal sex in July 2017, from one year down to three months. Meanwhile, countries like the USA are under-fire for having year-long bans on men who have sex with men, despite organizations like the Red Cross suffering blood shortages.
Long referral periods for gay men has come under heavy scrutiny recently. Originally, these were in place to prevent HIV contamination of blood, but modern screening technologies have alleviated those fears.
In January this year, Israel announced that it would be lifting its 12 month blood donation ban completely. The country devised a ‘double testing’ method, where it would be screened for infectious diseases when first donated. Then it would be tested a second time after being frozen for 4 months.
Meirav Ben-Ari, a Knesset law maker said at the time: ‘This is good news for the community because it will lead to expanding the pool of blood donations and as such, will save lives.’
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