[1/2] Nurse Agnes Besancon check on Gabriel Delabays during a blood donation on the first day gay men in the country could give blood after Switzerland lifted long-standing restrictions, at the transfusion center CRS in Epalinges near Lausanne, Switzerland, November 1, 2023. Switzerland amended blood donation criteria for men who have sexual relations with other men, making ineligibility criteria the same for homosexuals and heterosexuals. Until 2017, gay men were systematically barred from giving blood in Switzerland, a policy dating to the start of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the 1980s. Some other European countries, including Spain and Italy, have no restrictions preventing men who have sexual relations with men from giving blood. France removed additional restrictions on gay blood donors last year.

---

Persons: Agnes Besancon, Gabriel Delabays, Denis Balibouse, I'm, Gaé, SwissMedic, Donor Delabays, Gabrielle Tétrault, Farber, Alison Williams Organizations: REUTERS, Swiss Liberal Free Democratic Party, Swiss Transfusion SRC, Thomson Locations: Switzerland, Epalinges, Lausanne, EPALINGES, Swiss, Ecublens, Pink, Spain, Italy, France