Thousands more gay and bisexual men eligible to give blood from Monday as the New Zealand Blood Service drops sexuality-based screening

Thousands more gay and bisexual men will be able to roll up their sleeves and give blood from Monday, when the New Zealand Blood Service moves away from the long-standing rule that singled out men who have sex with men and replaces it with a behaviour-based screening regime that asks all donors the same questions.

The change takes effect on 4 May. Until then, the service has required men to wait three months after any sexual contact with another man before donating, no matter the relationship or the protection used. From Monday, the deciding question becomes whether a donor — of any sex or orientation — has had anal sex with a new or multiple partners in the past three months. If the answer is no, and they meet the rest of the eligibility checks, they can donate.

The Blood Service estimates that roughly 13 per cent of gay and bisexual men in New Zealand were eligible to give blood under the previous blanket deferral. Under the individualised risk model that figure is expected to climb to about 41 per cent. People in long-term monogamous relationships, who were previously caught by the policy regardless of their actual exposure, will be among the largest group of newly eligible donors.

Chief medical officer Dr Sarah Morley said the move was backed by a deep body of research at home and overseas. “We’ve got an enormous amount of evidence that tells us that this is as safe, and possibly safer, than the questions we’ve been using,” she said. The new criteria were approved by Medsafe in January 2025, and the service has spent the months since adding new testing equipment, retraining collection staff and working through the implications with its plasma partner CSL Behring.

The decision draws heavily on the Sex and Prevention of Transmission Study, known as SPOTS, run by the University of Auckland’s School of Population Health. Researcher Tony Sriamporn said the New Zealand-specific findings made the case clear. “Our study found no confirmed cases of undiagnosed HIV in the community of people in long-term monogamous relationships,” he said. He also welcomed the broader principle behind the rule change. “This is a much fairer system, because no longer will men be singled-out and asked sexuality-based questions about whether they’ve had sex with another man,” he said. “It’s a win for everyone as we always need more donors. This is wonderful news for the Rainbow community.”

His Auckland colleague Associate Professor Peter Saxton put it more bluntly. “It’s not every day that an entire population become eligible to donate blood,” he said. The Burnett Foundation, which has long argued the previous rules were both clinically out of step and stigmatising, also welcomed the announcement. Chief executive Liz Gibbs called it “an important step forward towards more equitable, behaviour-based donor screening”. Pete Hanl, the foundation’s research and policy officer, told RNZ earlier this year that the previous rules had been impossible to defend in committed relationships. “Why should people who live in a monogamous relationship not be able to donate blood?” he asked, while adding that “safety is always first” remained the foundation’s position.

For donors who have been waiting, the difference is immediate and personal. Dan Cattermoul, who told 1News he had been turned away in the past, said the new approach would let him give for the first time. “Now I’m eligible, so that is great,” he said.

The shift mirrors changes already in place in the United Kingdom and Canada, both of which moved to individual risk assessment several years ago and have since published safety data showing no increase in HIV transmission through the blood supply. Australia introduced almost identical rules in the same week as New Zealand’s switch, after years of parallel work between the two services.

The new questionnaire is straightforward. Every donor, regardless of gender, will be asked whether they have had anal sex with new or multiple partners in the past three months, and whether they have had any sexually transmitted infections in that period. A yes answer to either triggers the same three-month deferral that already applies to a wide range of behaviours. Other parts of the screening process, including the post-donation testing of every unit collected, are unchanged. Dr Gavin Cho, a Blood Service spokesperson, said the long lead-up to Monday’s switch had been about making sure the system change was as careful as the test itself, with new testing kit and staff training rolled out before the door opened.

For the Blood Service the operational headline is simple. New Zealand collects about 130,000 donations a year and has been actively recruiting, particularly outside the main centres. Opening up an entire population that has, until now, been unable to give is rare. For the men who have been told no for years, the change reads less as a clinical adjustment and more as a long-overdue acknowledgement that the old policy was asking the wrong question.

Donors can book an appointment at nzblood.co.nz or by phoning 0800 GIVE BLOOD.

Did you give blood under the old rules, or are you booking in on Monday for the first time? Tell us in the comments below.