{"id":9624,"date":"2021-11-23T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-11-23T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thehub.ca\/?p=9624"},"modified":"2021-11-22T14:51:23","modified_gmt":"2021-11-22T19:51:23","slug":"krystle-wittevrongel-banning-blood-buys-bad-business","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thehub.ca\/2021-11-23\/krystle-wittevrongel-banning-blood-buys-bad-business\/","title":{"rendered":"Krystle Wittevrongel: Banning blood buys is bad business"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Recently, Canadian Blood Services (CBS) made the news<\/a> for allowing the donation of blood plasma from gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (gbMSM) in two cities. While broadening eligibility redresses an exclusionary policy, it does little to increase the supply of plasma available for Canadians who need it. Given that a plasma shortage is looming, we need to reconsider the voluntary model and look at an option that has a greater potential of increasing the supply: the compensatory model.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This marks the first time the agency, funded primarily by provincial and territorial governments, is opening donations to this demographic. Its policy has been under fire for years<\/a> as homophobic, and this change comes at a time when the demand for plasma is growing rapidly worldwide<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Yet the gbMSM population only accounts for approximately two to three percent<\/a> of the Canadian adult male population, and only about four percent of Canadians<\/a> donate blood. Even if fully 50 percent of the gbMSM demographic donated, this would still only net a potential new donor pool of around 10,000 new donors. As we required 23,000 new donors in July<\/a> to replenish depleted inventory, even this inflated number falls short. In addition, studies show that women are more inclined <\/a>to voluntarily donate than men, so the number of voluntary donors this change will net is likely far lower.<\/p>\n\n\n\nExpanding eligibility will do little to increase supply<\/h2>\n\n\n\n