The NZ Blood Service has made sweeping changes to the way it screens donors for the risk of HIV, bringing us in line with a number of overseas countries.
Effective immediately, men who have sex with men can now give blood after abstaining from oral or anal sex for three months, rather than the previous 12-month stand-down.
Anyone taking HIV prevention medication cannot give blood until they have been off the drugs for three months.
People who have previously lived in a country with high HIV can now give blood after three months, instead of 12.
That stand-down period for sex workers or anyone who has accepted payment for sex has also been reduced to three months.
Dr Peter Flanagan from the NZ Blood Service discusses the changes with Lisa Owen.
