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- Australia has one of the safest blood supplies in the world – and the safety of our blood and plasma products for patients will always be our top priority.
- We acknowledge that gender-based sexual activity rules, whilst necessary to ensure a safe blood supply in the past, have contributed to the stigma faced by gay and bisexual men in Australia. We hear their pain and frustration at being excluded from something so many take for granted – being able to help their fellow human being with the simple yet life-giving act of donating blood or plasma.
- Lifeblood wants change too and we want to propose donation options that allow as many people as possible to donate, including those with new or multiple partners and the tens of thousands taking PrEP1, an antiretroviral medication to prevent HIV.
- To this end, we have been working towards two approaches:
- A ‘plasma pathway’ that will allow everyone, regardless of their sexual activity, including gay and bisexual men, and anyone taking PrEP, to donate plasma without any wait period at all, provided they meet other eligibility criteria.
- A gender-neutral approach for blood donation.
- The plasma pathway has been conditionally approved by the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) and we’re now working with the TGA, CSL Behring, which processes plasma into medications for patients, and the National Blood Authority, to implement these changes in early 2025.
- We have also made a submission to the TGA to remove gender-based sexual activity rules for people who donate blood or platelets. If approved, all donors would be asked the same questions, regardless of gender or sexuality, and some current sexual activity deferrals for donating blood or platelets would be changed.
Register so we can keep you up to date. Just click the link below, then fill out the form to be added to the notification list. You’ll then be the first to know of any potential changes.
If you’re already registered as a donor, you’ll still find out about any rule changes.
1 PrEP is an acronym that stands for pre-exposure prophylaxis. It involves HIV negative people taking antiretroviral medication to protect them and prevent HIV infection. Currently, people cannot donate whole blood for 12 months after they last took PrEP, or 3 months for plasma.
Ensuring safety
Keeping Australia's blood supply one of the safest in the world.
- The safety of our blood and plasma products is our top priority
- Australia currently has one of the lowest risks in the world of being infected with HIV through a blood transfusion, and we don’t want to change this.
- Australia has such a low HIV blood-transfusion risk because:
- The number of new HIV infections is reducing in the community
- We use the best blood screening tests
- Sexually active people in groups with a statistically higher risk of HIV infection cannot donate
- Unfortunately, even the very best blood screening tests cannot detect an early HIV infection – usually in the first week after infection. That’s why we need to do our best to make sure that people don’t donate blood if they might have an early ‘window period’ HIV infection.
- All countries, including those with ‘gender-neutral’ or ‘individual risk’ assessments in place, have a period where people with higher-risk sexual behaviours may not donate - even though there are some differences in how those people are assessed.
- It is important for Lifeblood to propose safe donation options that are available to as many people as possible.
- To have the ‘plasma pathway’ and a gender-neutral approach working safely side by side means Australia would be the first country in the world to remove wait times for plasma donations for people taking PrEP or having anal sex with new or multiple partners, and if approved, also have an option for blood donation, under which more people having sex with only one partner in the six months prior would become eligible to donate blood.
- Because safety of the blood supply is the highest priority, any change to blood safety rules takes time, research, and detailed analysis, and we need to know that any change is safe and feasible for patients as well as donors.
Final decisions about blood safety rules are made by the TGA and Australian governments following careful consideration of the information, data, and evidence submitted by Lifeblood.
Increasing inclusion
- Plasma Pathway
- The need for plasma – the lifesaving “golden” part of blood – is at a record high. Plasma has now overtaken whole blood donations as the type of donation most needed by Australian patients and hospitals.
- There are a growing number of patients relying on plasma donations for the treatment of cancer, immune disorders, haemophilia, trauma, and kidney disease. We need donations of all types. All donations save lives and plasma donations are equally as lifesaving as blood donations.
- Lifeblood collects more plasma donations than other blood donations each year.
- Lifeblood’s plasma pathway was conditionally approved by the TGA in May 2023 and we’re working to implement these changes in early 2025.
- The plasma pathway will:
- Allow anyone to donate plasma regardless of their sexual activity if they meet all other eligibility rules. This means someone with a new partner or multiple partners could donate plasma without any wait period at all (an exclusion remains in place if the partner is known to be positive for HIV, hepatitis C, hepatitis B or HTLV).
- Enable someone on PrEP to donate plasma while maintaining the safety of the blood supply.
- The plasma donation experience will be the same for everyone and there will be no need to quarantine plasma or require donors to return for testing.
- Because plasma for plasma medicines undergoes a different type of processing called pathogen inactivation that reduces the risk of an infection being passed to a patient, our submission focused on this vital blood product. Unfortunately, the same steps used to process plasma donations are not available for other blood donations.
- A new assessment approach for blood donations
- Some countries have adopted a gender-neutral approach for sexual activity in blood donations. Lifeblood has made a submission to the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) proposing to remove gender-based sexual activity rules for people who donate blood or platelets.
- If approved, all donors would be asked the same questions, regardless of gender or sexuality.
- The proposed changes also mean that many people in long-term monogamous relationships who are currently unable to donate blood would become eligible.
- Decisions about blood safety rules are made by the TGA, which now needs time to independently review our submission.
Frequently asked questions
Check out our responses to frequently asked questions related to sexual activity.
- What are the current rules around sexual activity and blood donation?
The postponement for donating blood, plasma, and platelets for those with a sexual activity-based risk factor was reduced in 2021 from 12 months to three months since the last sexual contact.
If you answer ‘yes’ to any of the following questions, you’ll need to wait 3 months since last contact before you can donate.
In the last 3 months, have you:
- had oral or anal sex with another man, even ‘safer sex’ using a condom (if you’re a man)
- had sex (with or without a condom) with a male who you think may have had oral or anal sex (with or without a condom) with another man?
- been a male or female sex worker (i.e. received payment for sex in money, gifts or drugs?)
- had sex with a male or female sex worker?
- engaged in sexual activity with someone who ever injected drugs not prescribed by a doctor or dentist?
- engaged in sexual activity with someone who was found to have HIV, hepatitis B, hepatitis C or human T-lymphotropic virus (HTLV) infection?
In the last 12 months, have you had sexual activity with a new partner who currently lives or has previously lived overseas? If ‘yes’, you may need to wait to donate depending on the level of HIV risk in your partner’s country of residence.
- Can someone on PrEP currently donate blood?
Since October 2021, you’ll need to wait three months since your last dose before you can donate plasma. If you choose to donate blood, you’ll still need to wait 12 months since your last dose. This is because PrEP impacts the ability of testing to pick up early HIV infection.
The ‘plasma pathway’ that has been conditionally approved by the Therapeutic Goods Administration will enable people on PrEP to donate plasma without any wait period at all. We expect to begin collecting donations under the plasma pathway in early 2025.
- Why do you ask about my health history?
Our donation criteria, and questions on the donor questionnaire form, are designed to ensure that the blood collection process is as safe as possible for blood donors and patients alike.
Our pre-donation screening includes a questionnaire made up of three sections. The first looks at the health history of first-time donors and the second is a medical questionnaire for all donors. These two sections are designed to identify possible medical issues in potential donors, as well as general risks of infection.
The third section is a legal declaration for you to fill out, pertaining to specific infection risks such as sexual activity and blood exposures. Some of these questions ask about ‘sexual contact’ and ‘sex’. We use these terms to refer to any sexual activities including vaginal, oral or anal.
- I’m in an exclusive relationship, why can’t I donate blood?
We understand that there are different levels of risk among men who have sex with men. Right now, we are working on a solution that will allow many more people to donate plasma. We have also made a submission to the Therapeutic Goods Administration to implement a gender-neutral assessment approach for blood donation in Australia. If approved, many people in long-term monogamous (exclusive) relationships who are currently unable to donate blood would become eligible.
