A new study involving the University of Otago is hoping to collect data on HIV prevention among men who have sex with men (MSM). A key aim of this study is to change policies which have, until now, prevented many MSM from donating blood.
The Sex and Prevention of Treatment Study (SPOTS) is being run by a team comprising staff from Auckland and Otago Unis, the New Zealand AIDS Foundation, Te Whāriki Takapou (a Māori sexual and reproductive health promotion organisation), Body Positive New Zealand and the New Zealand Blood Service (NZ Blood).
NZ Blood currently prevents any men who have had anal or oral with another man, or who have had any HIV pre- or post-exposure prophylaxis treatment, from donating blood for 3 months. Dr Peter Saxton, the Auckland Uni researcher leading this study, told Stuff that “many MSM want to donate blood and see the current policy as discriminatory and unscientific, given recent advances in HIV prevention.” He added that while NZ Blood has known that the risk of HIV from MSM donating blood is generally low, they “lack evidence to improve the policy further. Our study will be the first to provide that evidence.”
The SPOTS study is open to anyone who is aged 16 and over, lives in Aotearoa and identifies as a man and has had sex with a man; is a trans woman or non-binary person who has had sex with MSM; or any other gay, bisexual, takatāpui, queer or pansexual men who have never had sex with men.
After registering online, participants will do a confidential, anonymous online survey including questions about participants’ sex life, their testing for HIV and sexually-transmitted infections (STIs), and their attitudes and opinions around the current blood donation policy for gay and bisexual men. After completing the survey, participants can also (optionally) provide a finger-prick blood specimen to help the team “understand HIV, syphilis and hepatitis C in the community”.
NZ Blood themselves are backing this study, with chief medical officer Dr Sarah Morley telling Stuff that the evidence this study provides “will inform the next review of NZ Blood’s behavioural deferral policy”. She said that: “This study is a real opportunity to help effect change, and we encourage all eligible people to take part.”