Men who have sex with men (MSM) are now on an equal footing with other blood donors. They no longer have to justify a period of abstinence of four months to give blood since Wednesday March 16. An amendment adopted within the framework of the bioethics bill modified the selection criteria for blood donors, which until now had been different according to sexual orientation.
The questionnaire prior to donation has thus been updated. It only asks about risky practices, ie whether the donor has had more than one partner in the last four months or has taken drugs. The box “man having sex with another man”which was found on the eligibility simulator of the Etablissement français du sang (EFS) website, has been withdrawn as well as its question: “Have you had sex with a male partner in the past 4 months? »
End of an exclusion
Under the socialist government of François Hollande (2012-2017), a first step had been taken. Marisol Touraine, then Minister of Social Affairs and Health, had conditioned the blood donation of MSM to a sexual abstinence of twelve months, in 2016. Thus, the exclusion of this population, instituted in 1983 because of the risks of transmission of AIDS, estimated to be higher among male homosexuals, had ended.
A study of Public health France, published in 2019, showed that opening up blood donation to MSM had no impact on the risk of HIV transmission by transfusion. In view of this encouraging result, in 2020, the abstinence period had been reduced to four months, with the aim of considering for 2022 conditions identical to those of other donors.
In February, the EFS warned of a significant drop in blood supplies, which were at their lowest. ” The situation is critical “she warned, because the reserves were below the safety threshold.