After a supposedly lifetime ban on blood donation by men who had sexual contact with another man was implemented in Britain in the 1980s as a response to the spread of HIV/AIDS and the lack of adequate HIV tests, United Kingdom Department of Health said on September 8, that it was lifting the ban.

The lifetime ban on blood donations by homosexual and bisexual men will be lifted in England, Scotland and Wales. Northern Ireland is mulling a similar change as well.

Come November 7, gay men would be allowed to donate blood in Britain, with the condition that donor should not have sex in the last one year.

While the move is being applauded and heralded as a positive change, campaigners are disappointed with the 12-month restriction.

"A gay man in a monogamous relationship who has only had oral sex will still automatically be unable to give blood but a heterosexual man who has had multiple partners and not worn a condom will not be questioned about his behaviour, or even then, excluded," said Ben Summerskill of the British GLBT rights group Stonewall, as reported by BBC on September 8.

Topnews also reported that the Advisory Committee on the Safety of Blood, Tissue and Organs has warned that though the risk of HIV transmission would be controlled, concern pertaining to hepatitis B among the gay community could become a potential challenge in the near future.

South Africa has introduced a six-month gap between sex and blood donation. It is a year in Australia, Sweden and Japan. In the United States, FDA decides who may or may not donate blood. Gay men are banned for life if they have had sex with another man even once since 1977. Lifetime prohibition on gay donors still persists in Canada.