OTTAWA —
Health Minister Gilette Pettipas Taylor said Wednesday that men who have sex with men will be able to donate blood after a three-month delay, less than a year.
The decision was made at the request of Canadian Blood Services and Hema
Petitpas Taylor, Quebec, said on Capitol Hill that it would be an important step towards eliminating the extension period together.
In their 2015 election program, the Liberal Party promised to end the ban, saying it was discriminatory.
In last December, the organizations submitted proposals to Health Canada to further reduce the period of unqualified blood donation to three months.
Until 2013, Canada banned men who had sex with men for life from donating blood, meaning they could not donate blood if they had sex after 1977.
Health Canada says it has now approved three requests to shorten the extension time, which means reducing the risk of HIV transmission through blood transfusion.
This limit fell to five years in 2013 and one year in 2016.
Three years ago, the government also provided $3 million to Canadian blood service agencies to seek support
Take a discriminatory attitude towards blood donation.
The latest federal budget offers $2.
In 4 million three years, additional research specifically aimed at reducing blood donation disorders began in 2019.
Plasma is the liquid component that carries blood cells in the blood.
Liberal MP Randy bosenno, the prime minister's special adviser on the issue of gay, bisexual and transgender people, said on Wednesday that even if the government's intentions had not been fully realized, reducing the extension to three months is also a "big win ".
"We continue to work with the community," Boissonnault said . ".
"It's a good day to show what happens when the government follows science.