Every day, 83 New Zealanders experience first-hand the lifesaving impact of blood donors. Photo / Jason Oxenham, File
Every day, 83 New Zealanders experience first-hand the lifesaving impact of blood donors. Photo / Jason Oxenham, File
OPINION
Every year there are 29,000 New Zealanders whose lives are saved or improved by the generosity of strangers.
Most people don't wake up one morning and think: "Today, my life will be saved by the stranger (or strangers) who took the time to donate blood, plasma or platelets lastweek".
However, every day, there are 83 Kiwis experiencing first-hand the lifesaving impact of blood donors.
We have 110,000 amazing donors across Aotearoa who have continued to put their trust in New Zealand Blood Service (NZBS) and donate throughout the Covid-19 pandemic.
When we've gone to appeal, they have answered our call, rolling up their sleeves to ensure that blood and blood products continue to be available wherever and whenever they're needed.
But currently, less than 4 per cent of the eligible population in New Zealand donates, and if we're going to continue to meet the growing demand in the coming years, it's just not enough. Over the next 12 months alone we need 38,000 new donors to join our lifesaving team.
Often, when we put out the call for new donors, we hear from people who feel our donor eligibility criteria is unfair. Two, in particular, generate a lot of feedback.
The permanent deferral that applies to those who lived in the United Kingdom, France or the Republic of Ireland between 1980 and 1996 for more than six months – or anyone who received a blood transfusion in any of those countries after 1980 – due to the risk of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (vCJD).
The other criteria is the three-month deferral for men who engage in anal or oral sex with men (MSM).
It's important to note that NZBS does not discriminate on the basis of someone's gender, sexuality, race, or religion. Our primary responsibility is to ensure that blood and blood products supplied to patients is as safe as practicable.
However, we recognise it's essential to follow international best practice as it relates to donor eligibility criteria. We always keep new scientific evidence under review, in relation to all our deferrals, to make sure they're appropriate.
Sarah Morley. Photo / Supplied
With that in mind, our involvement in the SPOTs: Sex and Prevention of Transmission Study is an important step towards gaining a much better understanding of safe sex practices in the MSM community across Aotearoa. The study is being led by the University of Auckland, in partnership with community and HIV organisations.
The information gathered from this study will be used to investigate alternatives to our current MSM deferral. It is our hope that the study will provide vital, evidence-based New Zealand data that will help inform our review of the criteria, alongside peer-reviewed scientific data that becomes available from the international blood services that we benchmark ourselves against.
We're also in the process of reviewing the medical and scientific evidence, to make sure our vCJD deferral remains relevant, following the decisions by the Therapeutic Goods Administration in Australia and the Food and Drug Administration in the United States to remove the equivalent deferrals in their respective countries.
Proposed changes to our donor eligibility criteria must be based on a careful evaluation of independent, peer-reviewed scientific evidence (including the experience of other international blood providers) and a risk assessment based on the local evidence here in New Zealand. This evaluation can then be used to inform a submission to Medsafe, which must review and approve any proposed changes before they can be implemented.
Finally, we will be celebrating our first-ever National Blood Donor Week from June 13 to June 19. The theme for the week is "We are whānau". On behalf of NZBS, I want to say thank you to all our donors for continuing to help us save lives.
• If you've never donated blood before, you can find out if you are eligible at nzblood.co.nz. You can book an appointment by downloading our app or visiting our website or phoning 0800 448 325.
• Dr Sarah Morley is the chief medical officer at New Zealand Blood Service.
