Germany to drop rules that make it harder for gay men to donate blood

Germany is set to ease restrictions on blood donations by homosexual and bisexual men that have been criticized by advocacy groups as discriminatory, reported dpa.

New risk-assessment guidelines for blood donations, which are to be adopted on Monday, will no longer take into account sexual orientation or gender identity, the German Medical Association announced on Thursday.

"Now the individual risk will be assessed by asking about the number of partners and sexual practice," Johannes Oldenburg, a doctor and member of the scientific advisory board of the German Medical Association, told dpa.

In the future, heterosexual people will also be asked specific questions about their sexual activities as part of the blood donor screening, Oldenburg said.

Whether the new risk-assessment guidelines are adopted on Monday will depend on how quickly blood donation services switch over to the new questionnaire, a spokesman for the German Medical Association said.

Sexual behaviour is considered risky if the chances of contracting a serious infectious disease are significantly increased. Among the behaviours classified as risky include sex with more than two partners or anal intercourse with a new partner.

Risk assessments for potential blood donors are aimed at preventing the transmission of an infection to the recipient of a blood donation.

In future, anyone who has had such high-risk sex within the last four months will generally not be allowed to donate blood, regardless of whether they are heterosexual or homosexual.

Stricter rules that specifically applied to men who have sex with men (MSM) and trans people will be dropped.

Until now, the assessment criteria considered it high-risk if a man had sex with a new man, regardless of sexual practice.