New Zealand's 5 year 'Gay Blood Ban' now lowered to a 1 year ban

The period New Zealand men have to wait before donating blood after anal or oral sex with another man, has now been dropped from five years to one on Monday 15th December.

The recommendation was made by a team which carried out a review for the New Zealand Blood Service.

The new 12 month stand down period for gay and bisexual men who want to give blood comes into effect Monday 15th December, after being approved by Medsafe.

It means men who haven’t anal or oral sex with another man in a year can donate.

The ban period was dropped from five years to 12 months at the recommendation of team which carried out a review for the New Zealand Blood Service. Full GayNZ article here <<<

Here is a full list of countries that still ban or have probational bans on gay blood donations:

1 year Bans - Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Czech Republic, Finland, Hungary, Japan, New Zealand (15th Dec 2014, 5 year ban lifted to 1 year ban), Sweden, United Kingdom (Excludes Northern Ireland).  

5 year Bans -  Canada

Indefinite Bans - Algeria, Austria, Belgium, China, Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Malta, Netherlands, Northern Ireland, Norway, Philippines, Slovenia, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey, United States, Venezuela.

Non Deferral -  Chile, Italy, Mexico, Poland, Portugal, Russia, South Africa, Spain, Uruguay. 

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