The South African National Blood Service has taken a stance against the exclusion of LBGTQ blood donations. The SANBS has exclusions but being gay isn’t one of them!
The SANBS recently sent out a promoted tweet after a donor experienced a prejudiced opinion when trying to donate blood. They believe that blood donations are highly important, especially for the rarer types therefore they accept donations from everyone that can safely conform to their list of requirements.
The global ban on gay men donating blood was implemented in the early eighties, in the height of the AIDS epidemic. The belief was that HIV was more prevalent among men who have sex with men (MSM) than among the general population but studies have dispelled this completely.
“Less than 1% of South Africans are active blood donors. A unit of blood only lasts 42 days after donation and, for this reason, it is important for blood donors to donate regularly. Donors can give blood as often as every eight weeks.”
“Every unit of blood can save up to three lives as blood is separated into red blood cells, plasma and platelets.”
“SANBS aims to collect 3000 units of blood per day to ensure a safe and sufficient blood supply in the health care system.”
The LBGTQ community still face scrutiny today, which is incredibly sad when considering that South African law has been one of the most inclusive ones in the world since 1994.
Be that as it may, the SANBS refuse to judge on a persons personal preference and only ask that people come forward to donate and address the shortages of blood in SA.
Below is their tweet on the matter as well as the full list of requirements to be a donor.
To be a donor you need to meet these requirements:
- You are between the ages of 16 and 65 years old, for first time donors.
- You weigh a minimum of 50 kgs (and platelets a minimum of 55 kgs)
- You are in good health.
- You lead a low risk lifestyle.
- You consider your blood safe for transfusion.
- You have had a balanced meal within four hours of donating blood.
- You have not donated blood in the last 56 days (and platelets in the last 14 days.)
- Your pulse is between 50-100 regular beats per minute.
- Your blood pressure is below 180 systolic (first number) and below 100 diastolic (second number) (180/100mmHg) and above 100 systolic (first number) and above 60 diastolic (second number) (100/60mmHg).
- Your haemoglobin level is 12.5 g/dL or above.
There are some important points that would exclude a person which you can read here.
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