The ban since 1980 preventing men who have sex with men (MSM) from donating blood will be lifted in November. The Department of Health has announced that men can give blood as long as they have not had anal or oral sex with a man in the past 12 months and meet the other general donor selection criteria.This ban had been put in place to stop the spread of blood-borne viruses, it has now been considered safe to reduce the regulation. There is still a 12 month ban because sexually active gay men are at a higher risk of accumulating sexually acquired viruses. NHS blood and transplant hope that this will increase the number of blood donors in the future.
Article information and photo sourced from BBC News
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