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Denmark to Allow Gay Men to Donate Blood After Four Month Waiting Period



Denmark has announced it will lift its ban on gay men donating blood, reports DR Nyheder.

 

Danish Health Minister, Ellen Trane Nørby,has announced the country will now allow gay men to donate blood if they have not had sex with another man in the past four months. The waiting period will be waived if the man is in a relationship. Nørby has said the law will come into effect at some point in 2019.

 

“The authority has found a model we feel is safe and we will therefore incorporate it into Denmark,” she said. “All safety mechanisms in our blood donation system are built on trust and we have some very advanced tests that screen the blood.”

 

This follows similar reforms made in the UK and Israel – the latter reducing the one-year waiting period to three months, and the former removing the waiting period altogether and instead testing gay men’s blood on arrival and then again in four months.

 

Other countries have faced criticism for sticking to archaic laws that came about during the AIDS crisis. The US continues to have a year-long ban despite massive blood shortages across the country.



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