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History of the MSM Policy
| Year | Event |
|---|---|
| 2015 | [More details to come] |
| 2014 | [More details to come] |
| 2013 |
Announcement of policy change from lifetime deferral to five years since last MSM contact |
| 2012 |
Creation of MSM Deferral Policy Working Group |
|
Submission to Health Canada requesting change from lifetime deferral of MSM donors to a time-bound deferral of five years |
|
|
Panel presentation at Carleton University |
|
|
Update and presentation to Network of Rare Blood Disorder Organizations (NRBDO) |
|
|
Joint consultation session with patient groups and members of the LGBTQ community |
|
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Consultation with National Liaison Committee of the Canadian Blood Services Board of Directors |
|
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Consultation with patient groups |
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Consultation with LGBTQ groups |
|
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Ipsos-Reid polling (PDF) |
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Discussion paper on donor selection criteria reviewed by panel in international experts |
|
| 2011 |
Presentation to Canadian Federation of Students |
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Presentation to the Federation of Law Societies of Canada |
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Presentations at various university campuses |
|
| 2010 |
Presentations at various university campuses |
| 2009 |
Trial between Canadian Blood Services and Kyle Freeman will begin in the Superior Court of Ontario in Ottawa |
| 2008 |
Canadian Blood Services forms national LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans* and queer) working group, whose mandate is to act as a resource for Canadian Blood Services to help educate on the issues and sensitivities of the LGBTQ community while helping to promote the research agenda. |
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Canadian Blood Services launches joint research opportunity with the Canadian Institute for Health Research focused on three areas; donor deferral strategies and the risk of blood-borne diseases, policy development and social aspects of blood system risk, and emerging pathogens in specific populations |
|
| 2007 |
Canadian Blood Services Board defers pursuing a deferral change while launching research agenda to close the gaps in information identified through the consultations. |
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(McLaughlin Report - PDF) MSM Donor Deferral Risk Assessment: An Analysis using Risk Management Principles |
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| 2006 |
Canadian Blood Services conducted its own epidemiological study of 40,000 donors to evaluate the proportion of donors with deferrable risks. The study was repeated in 2008 with results published internally. |
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American Red Cross, America's Blood Centres and the AABB recommend to the FDA changing deferral to one year for MSM - FDA chose to uphold the indefinite ban stating it was the best way to keep the nation's blood supply safe. |
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|
McLaughlin Centre for Population Health Risk Assessment commissioned to conduct risk assessment of MSM donor deferral criteria - did not make recommendations, put forward views for discussion at Canadian Blood Services Board of Directors. |
|
| 2001 |
Canadian Blood Services implements nucleic acid amplification testing (NAT) for HIV - greatly reducing the "window period" where the virus is undetectable by test, but not eliminating it. |
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Canadian Blood Services/Héma-Québec co-sponsored international consensus conference on optimizing the donor selection process - no recommendation to change criteria due to not enough evidence to implement a change in deferral criteria |
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| 1988 |
Year that the MSM deferral was introduced in blood screening by the Canadian Red Cross via filling out a written questionnaire , a formal consent and confidential unit exclusion form |
| 1985 |
The first year thousands of Canadians were infected with HIV via tainted blood |
| 1983 |
The first year a pamphlet was introduced to donors outlining the risk factors for HIV, with the hope that donors would self-exclude. |
| 1977 |
The year 1977 has been identified as the date when rapid spread of HIV began throughout first world countries such as the United States and Canada. |