The French Ministry of Health will no longer forbid the acceptance of blood and plasma donations from gay men, who have been thought to be higher risks for infecting the blood supply with the HIV virus.
According to the English-language French newspaper, The Connexion, France will issue a similar policy to that of England, Wales and Scotland, where men who have not had sex with another man for 12 months may donate blood. It was not clear how, other than the “honor system” that stipulation would be established.
Ineligibility to donate blood should come not as a result of the “”nature of sexual relations or sexual inclination” but on the “multiplicity of partners,” said France’s health minister Marisol Touraine. Touraine, speaking during World Blood Donor Day ceremonies, promised to roll out a policy that would life the decades-old ban within a few months.
