US ends ban on blood donations from gay men

The US Food and Drug Administration has formally ended its rule barring gay and bisexual men from giving blood.

The long-standing ban has been in effect since the early 1980s when fear and misinformation about the spread of HIV/AIDS crisis was widespread.

The FDA's revised policy evaluates all prospective donors by the same set of criteria but screens for recent, high-risk sexual activity.

The revised approach takes its cue from the UK and Canada.

Both countries moved, in 2021 and 2022 respectively, to allow donations from men who have had sex with other men in the past three months.

But the rule change only applies to those who have had the same sexual partner during the period. Those who have had new or multiple partners, and anal sex, in the past three months are not eligible to give blood.

The FDA is also recommending that those who use pre-exposure prophylaxis (PRrEP) or post-exposure prophylaxis - medications commonly used to prevent HIV infection - must defer making a donation.

The agency said use of these drugs could delay the detection of HIV and therefore turn up false negative results in a screening test.