Findings from New Zealand’s SPOTS Study Support Expanding the Country’s Blood Donation Policies to Include Gay, Bisexual Men

The number of eligible blood donors among gay and bisexual men in New Zealand would triple – without causing increased risk to the safety and availability of the blood supply – if the country adopted individual donor assessment protocols similar to those of Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States, according to findings from the Sex and Prevention of Transmission Study (SPOTS) published in a recently released new report.

SPOTS was a collaboration between the University of Auckland, the University of Otago, Burnett Foundation Aotearoa (formerly New Zealand AIDS Foundation), Te Whāriki Takapou, Body Positive and the New Zealand Blood Service. The study has been compared with the ADVANCE Study in the United States.

SPOTS included data from 3,253 participants in New Zealand, comprising men (cis and transgender) who have sex with men (MSM), non-binary people assigned male at birth who have sex with MSM, and men who identify as gay, bisexual, takatāpui, pansexual or queer but who have not had sex with men. The results showed that under New Zealand’s current rules regarding blood donation, 13% of participants were eligible donors. However, if the country implemented IDA protocols for determining blood donor eligibility, this number would increase to 41%. Additionally, the results showed that 82% of participants were interested in donating blood and 43% had donated blood in the past.

The new report also included a number of recommendations to advance blood donation culture in New Zealand. Foremost among these is a recommendation for New Zealand Blood Service to develop “a more inclusive blood donor deferral policy for gay and bisexual men and [to] seek approval to implement this.” The SPOTS research team suggested moving to IDA protocols to create a more inclusive policy and recommended modeling such policies after those of Canada and the United Kingdom.