I donated Blood today!!!!!!!! Since I was 18 I have wanted to but always thought my anti-epileptic medication and trip to Ghana made me inelagible. I was wrong on both counts. The list of medications that prevent you from giving blood is actually rather short and it is only travel to certain African and European countries that prevent you from giving blood.
What does disgust me however is that any male homosexual encounters still prevent you from being able to give blood. While it is important the people who have had sexual contact with anyone infected with HIV or AIDS give blood, discrimination against gay men is not ok. This is especially true because gay men are not actually the most succeptable to AIDS but rather black women. The prohibition of gay men from giving blood is an outdated and offensive practice that goes all the way back to when AIDS was thought of as a gay disease. It's time for a change.
I'm blessed with sweet moments. Thank you :)
12 years ago
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1 comment:
the numbers are still quite high for male to male sex. according to the cdc, it's still most common form of transmission.
9,000 heterosexual women were diagnosed with hiv/aids in 2007, while over 22,000 homosexual men were diagnosed.
http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/topics/surveillance/basic.htm#hivaidsexposure
the reason the FDA does it is less out of discrimination and more out an abundance of caution. and of course this may be debatable, if it turns out similarly high risk groups aren't also excluded.
http://www.fda.gov/BiologicsBloodVaccines/BloodBloodProducts/QuestionsaboutBlood/ucm108186.htm
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