Search

ABBREVIATIONS BECSs blood establishment computer systems CBS Canadian Blood Services EBV estimated blood volume MSM men who have sex with men TRALI transfusion-related acute lung injury Societal awareness of trans people and their needs as both blood donors and transfusion recipients has increased over the last few years. Donors are also asked to select "male" or "female", and this sex/gender designation (which may represent sex and/or gender depending on donor center policies and donor interpretation) is included in the donor's electronic file. DETERMINATION OF ELIGIBILITY Individual medical inquiries versus standardized criteria Blood center policies and donor criteria are usually detailed in standard work instructions and a donor criteria manual, allowing donor screening personnel to screen donors in a standardized way, consistent with approved eligibility requirements. Almost all participants reported they were able to change the donor's gender in their BECS; 97% only had male/female gender options, while 3% had possible gender selections beyond the male/female binary available. [Extracted from the article]

The author discusses the policy of blood donor criteria for men who have sex with men (MSM) in Canada. Topics discussed include a report from Public Health Agency of Canada on annual incident cases of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in Canada, role of Canadian Blood Services in Canada, and several measures to prevent transmission of HIV in Canada compared to the U.S.