Walking the tightrope of blood donation policy

Talk Description

Aotearoa New Zealand has one of the safest blood supplies in the world, but our recent shortage of A+ blood donors raises the question of whether our deferral policies are too conservative.

This talk will focus on New Zealand’s controversial policy that excludes gay men from donating blood if they’ve had sex in the last three months. Many view this as discriminatory, unscientific and inconsistent with modern, safe-sex approaches. Elsewhere, Canada is lifting some restrictions on gay men donating blood, and Australia recently removed ‘mad cow disease’ (vCJD) from its list of theoretical concerns, opening the door to people who lived in the UK during the 1980s/90s.

Peter will discuss blood testing and deferral policies, trust in institutions, the framing of donating blood as a moral act, the harms of being excluded, what alternative policies could look like, the implications of change, and the potential increase in new donors. The talk will highlight the balancing act of keeping our blood supply safe from serious infectious diseases, while ensuring we have enough donors and can uphold our values as a progressive, inclusive nation.

Bio

Peter Saxton is an Associate Professor in the School of Population Health, Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences. Peter’s training spans epidemiology, sociology and public policy. He works closely with policymakers, non-government organisations, communities and the media to improve HIV prevention programmes. Peter’s work on HIV behavioural surveillance is internationally recognised, and his current project, SPOTS: Sex and Prevention Of Transmission Study, aims to improve blood donation and reduce undiagnosed HIV among gay and bisexual men. He is the inaugural recipient of the NZ AIDS Foundation Fellowship and received the Australasian Sexual Health Association Interdisciplinary Achiever Award in 2016.