LONDON – British health officials say they will lift the ban on gay men donating blood–as long as their last sexual contact with another man was more than one year ago.
The U.K. health department said Thursday the change would be implemented in November after a new review found no evidence to support the ban.
The decision reverses a policy first adopted in the 1980s when officials feared AIDS could be spread in the blood supply.
Other countries including Australia, Japan, South Africa, Sweden and New Zealand also allow gay men to donate blood with similar conditions. In Canada and the U.S., however, gay men are still banned from donating blood.
