Thank you.
As Dr. Sher mentioned, we need solid evidence to support a further regulatory change, and that research and evidence do take some time to collect. In collaboration with scientists, the LGBTQ community, patient groups, and Health Canada, we are now focused on other possible changes to our eligibility criteria that we hope will permit more MSM to be able to donate blood.
With the recently available $3 million in research funding from Health Canada, we can plan and deliver research to work toward more inclusivity for our donors while maintaining the safety and adequacy of the supply of blood products for recipients.
One of the areas of research to explore is possible gender-blind or sexual-orientation-blind screening approaches, among others. For example, such an approach might include asking all donors whether they have had a new sexual partner or more than one sexual partner in a given time frame.
With the support of Health Canada, and in partnership with our sister organization, Héma-Québec, Canadian Blood Services will be holding a two-day meeting at the end of January in 2017 with national and international scientists. The meeting is being held in collaboration with leaders from the Egale Canada Human Rights Trust, the Community-Based Research Centre for Gay Men's Health, and the Canadian Centre for Diversity and Inclusion.
The objectives of this meeting are to inform and update participants on current national and international research, practices, and policy strategies, to identify key research questions to be answered, and then to develop a list of priority areas and potential research projects to answer those questions. We will discuss the barriers to research and how to overcome them. We will cultivate and promote new partnerships and collaborations to advance research in this area, and we will establish the processes for the application and granting of the research funds for this work. The patient and LGBTQ community representatives have been invited to attend the event as impacted observers and will be given an opportunity to address the attendees at the meeting.
Patients bear 100% of the risk associated with blood transfusion and, consequently, with those changes to donor eligibility criteria. Our goal is to maintain the safety of the blood supply while being as minimally restrictive as possible to donors.
We're really looking forward to the January meeting as our next step to help get us there.
Thank you.