Advocates say Australia is falling further behind other countries following Austria's decision to lift its gay blood ban and assess each potential donor for their individual risk instead. 

 

Just.Equal Australia has called on the Australian Lifeblood Service to follow the lead of its Austrian counterpart by lifting its blanket ban on donation by gay men, and bisexual men and transgender women who have sex with men.

 

Austria joins the UK, the Netherlands, France, Germany, Canada, Greece, Italy, Spain, Argentina, Brasil, Chile, Portugal, Poland Hungary and many other nations in lifting their gay blood bans and adopting individual risk assessment.

 

Just.Equal spokesperson, Rodney Croome, said,

 

"The approach in Austria and other countries is a win-win because it removes discrimination and means more safe blood for those in need." 

 

"Australia risks falling far behind global best practice on blood donation unless we move quickly to remove the old discriminatory ban and adopt individual risk assessment instead."

 

"We are hopeful that Australia's new Labor Government will see the need for reform and move it forward quickly."

 

Just.Equal has published a report that looks at the medical science unlying blood donor reform in other countries, as well as the detail of those new policies. The report can be found here:

https://www.equal.org.au/recommendations_msm_blood_donor_deferrals

 

For a copy of this statement on the web, click here