In January, the organization declared its first-ever blood crisis.Īccording to the Red Cross, overall blood donations in the United States have declined 10 percent since March 2020, both because of concerns about hosting blood drives during the pandemic and also because college and high school blood drives have been stymied during the pandemic, when many campuses went virtual. The calls come in the midst of what the Red Cross has said is the worst national blood shortage in a decade. Such a policy would be in line with newer guidelines in the United Kingdom, France, Argentina, and Brazil. “Scientific advances have dramatically improved blood screening and there remains no evidence to suggest that including men that have sex with men in the pool of available blood donors poses an increased risk of adverse outcomes to patients in need.”Ī revised policy would enhance individual screening for people by asking potential donors about high-risk behaviors rather than relying on sexual orientation alone. “The pandemic has rightfully brought about an increased effort to educate the public on the importance of science as it pertains to health care,” said a statement signed by Carole Allen, president of the Massachusetts Medical Society, and Sean Cahill, director of health policy research at The Fenway Institute, the research and policy arm of Fenway Health. Set the ABC News website or the app to 'Tasmania Top Stories' from either the homepage or the settings menu in the app to continue getting the same national news but with a sprinkle of more relevant state stories.While the two organizations said they were grateful for the revisions, they said the policy does not go far enough, especially in light of ongoing national blood shortages and a lack of evidence that those donors posed more danger than others. "Based on our HIV patterns, we believe this would not maintain the present safety of the blood supply." Want more Tasmanian news? "It makes sense for the UK and Canada to change their approach because the distribution of new and existing across their populations is evenly spread," they said in a statement. He said if the ban was lifted, it would mean an estimated 25,000 litres of extra blood would be available each year.Ī spokesperson for Red Cross Lifeblood said they "understood the rules would exclude some groups", but that although gay and bisexual men in declared monogamous relationships were low risk, they were "still at a higher risk of exposure than people in heterosexual relationships". "It is beyond me why we don't do that in Australia."
"It means there is more safe blood available to save lives and it means there is less discrimination," Mr Croome said. Mr Croome said he would like to see Australia take a similar approach, with other countries, including the United Kingdom and France, also implementing a system that assesses the individual risks of every donor. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the change was long overdue, saying the old approach was "discriminatory and wrong". ( Supplied: Ben Dudman)Ĭanada this year removed the ban on blood donations from gay men, with the country's health department describing it as "a significant milestone toward a more inclusive blood donation system". Ben Dudman said he wanted to donate blood.