Donations from LGBT 'too risky'

[reader]

NOTE -- There seems to be a discrepancy with the headline (above) from Bangkok Post website and the bold-faced paragraph in text below.

From Bangkok Post

The National Blood Centre said on Tuesday that it empathises with an appeal by the LGBT community regarding their right to donate blood but Thailand is not yet ready to relax the strict criteria for blood donors from this higher-risk group.

The centre, which operates under the Thai Red Cross Society, issued a statement after Nikorn Chimkong, who serves as chairman of both the HIV Foundation Asia and Bangkok Rainbow Organisation, urged the society to broaden its scope to be more inclusive of these oft-marginalised groups, especially at a time when donated blood is in short supply.

"The Thai Red Cross Society is committed to its mission and resolution to take care of people with compassion in line with the fundamental principles of the International Red Cross Movement. We respect the human rights of every person equally and without discrimination," the statement said.

During the transitional period of blood donation criteria for men who have sex with men (MSM) in many countries over the last decade, the National Blood Centre has been monitoring the advance of medical science in order to initiate improvements at home.

In Thailand, the HIV rate among first-time donors stands at 130 per 100,000, compared to 40 among the same number of regular donors.

These numbers are, respectively, 14 and 27 times higher than the US, 22 and 72 times higher than in Western Europe, and 10 and 80 times higher than Singapore, Taiwan, Macau, South Korea, Hong Kong and Japan. In Bangkok, the HIV rate among gay men is over 30%.

It described this as a practical move rather than one rooted in discrimination, as transgender women who have no history of sexual intercourse with a male partner can apply to be donors, as can lesbians.

Before the criteria for gay men and others in this group can be relaxed, the HIV infection rate among donors must drop to below one in 100,000 donors per year, it said, adding this would require better sex education and cooperation from all sectors in society.

"These statistics are key factors that must be analysed before any changes are made to our blood donor selection criteria," the statement read.

It added that an advisory group comprising specialists and experts in transfusion medicine decided Thailand is not ready to take the risk of relaxing the criteria for MSM blood donors.

https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/2196875/donations-from-lgbt-too-risky

[PeterRS]

1 hour ago, reader said:

In Bangkok, the HIV rate among gay men is over 30% ....

It added that an advisory group comprising specialists and experts in transfusion medicine decided Thailand is not ready to take the risk of relaxing the criteria for MSM blood donors.

https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/2196875/donations-from-lgbt-too-risky

I am singling out for comment these items from that article. The avert site below dated 7 August 2020 confirms that the number of new infections of HIV among the general population is indeed declining in Thailand. That figure is impressive - a fall of 59% between 2010 and 2018. This represents the steepest decline in the Asia Pacific region.

Sadly, though, it reconfirms that the number of MSM already infected with HIV in Bangkok is 29% whereas it is between 12% and 15% in the country as a whole. But, and I believe this is important, those figures come from two different time periods. The country as a whole is from 2018; that for MSM in Bangkok from 2015. The Bangkok figures has constantly been repeated on all manner of sites ever since then, including this one. Has there really been no change in the number since then? As referred to below, the number seems to have increased, albeit only slightly.

Some years ago, another sad statistic was the much higher increase in the rate of HIV infections among young people in the 18-21 age range. Equally, condom use in this age group is low, despite the launch in 2016 of a three year programme to increase condom awareness and to issue 40 million free condoms annually amongst this age group. Part of the reason may be that while sex eduction courses in schools are now common, 'sensitive' subjects like abortion and MSM are often omitted from that part of the curriculum.

The site points out that in 2016 only 45% of youngsters in the 15-24 age grouping had "adequate knowledge" of how to prevent HIV. Almost certainly as a result new sexually transmitted infections continue to rise in this group. This seems to be borne out by comments in gay forums about the lack of condom use in the gay saunas primarily targeted at Thais on the outskirts of the Bangkok. Avert suggests that more testing and more education is vital to bring the numbers down.

A more detailed site hivhub titled "Thailand Ending AIDS" is dated 2018 and covers the period 1 October 2016 to 30 September 2017. It relates to what was then the current situation and how Thailand could meet its target of ending AIDS by 2030. This states the rate of HIV amongst MSM in Bangkok as slightly higher at 30.2%. This report stresses a number of issues relating to how figures are poorly collated between several agencies, the need for a much larger outreach programme for young people, and the need for many more at risk people to be tested, especially MSM, which happens to be the lowest level for testing and finding out the result (only 54.6%). It adds that many Thais are having their first sexual experiences at an earlier age. 3% claimed to have started at age 13. Although this number is relatively small, it adds that the number of those having sex under 15 is increasing.

I apologise that this post veers off the main topic about blood transfusions. In general I agree that the overall situation in Thailand, particularly as outlined in the two reports below, remains too uncertain. I don't mind not being able to donate blood. I donate to the Red Cross instead. That means I am still doing something. Others will certainly disagree with my view.

https://www.avert.org/professionals/hiv-around-world/asia-pacific/thailand

https://hivhub.ddc.moph.go.th/Download/Report/APR/2018/EN_GAM 2018.pdf