Beginning December 4, Quebec will use gender-neutral questionnaires for all types of blood donation.
Regular blood and plasma donors will see some changes to the questionnaire, including the addition of questions about sexual behavior and pregnancy history. Individuals who report having had a new sexual partner or partners in the past three months are required to answer additional questions.
“Risk assessment related to sexual intercourse is done on an individual basis and not based on belonging to a group that is considered to be at risk,” explained Dr. Marc Germain, Vice President of Medical Affairs and Innovation at Héma-Québec.
“This means, for example, that people who identify with sexual diversity can donate blood, including men who have active sex with other men. In turn, this also means that straight people are no longer eligible to donate blood,” he added.
The gender-neutral questionnaire will be introduced in Quebec in two phases. This new measure can be applied to plasma donations from October 2nd, while other types of donations will have to wait until December 4th.