How a history of stigma still keeps some Black Quebecers from donating blood

Stanley Etienne Giving blood is nothing new. The 41-year-old Montreal bus driver has donated 37 times in recent years.

It all started when a friend of hers faced a health crisis related to sickle cell anemia – a disease that largely affects the black community. He brought her to a clinic and learned that donating blood was the best way to help her, and that it was especially important for the black community to step forward.

Patients with sickle cell require frequent blood transfusions, and the most compatible blood – which prevents life-threatening immune reactions – usually comes from donors of the same ethnic background.

Héma-Quebec says more than 200 sickle cell patients in the province depend on regular donations to survive. A person suffering from sickle cell anemia requires blood from an average of 130 donors per year.

Nowadays, Etienne not only donates, but he also helps organize Héma-Quebec blood drives and gets the word out, posting on social media and speaking to groups about the importance of giving.

“Your blood will help someone who needs it,” he said.

Haitians discouraged from donating blood

But Etienne said he had to convince his mother to give blood because of the distrust in the medical establishment within the Haitian community in the early years of the HIV/AIDS crisis.

In the 1980s, US health officials Haitians were unfairly singled out Homosexuals, along with heroin users (intravenous drug users) and hemophiliacs form a “high-risk group” for HIV, known as the 4Hs.

He classification This led to stigma and discrimination throughout North America and led to the US Food and Drug Administration barring people of Haitian descent from donating blood.

By 1983, the Canadian Red Cross also asked recent immigrants from Haiti to stop donating blood voluntarily. These policies caused public outrage in both the United States and Canada.

The high risk classification for Haitians in the US was removed by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in 1985. Found to be scientifically inaccurate and unfairly stigmatizing. However, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) continued to exclude Haitians who immigrated after 1977 from donating blood until 1990.

In Canada, self-exclusion quietly lifted 1988But despite the controversy there was no public Announcement.

had a self-exclusion policy long lasting effect on the Haitian community, reinforcing mistrust of health institutions. Etienne said that his mother was among those who lost faith.

“This is why a lot of Haitians don’t want to give blood,” Etienne said.

But Haitians are not the only members of the black community who have felt stigmatized. Canadian Blood Services (CBS) also had a screening question that limited donations from people who lived in, were born in, or had sexual contact with someone in some African countries after 1977 due to the lack of reliable testing for HIV.

Question was not removed from screening Process by 2018 Due to better testing techniques.

Work is being done to repair the damage

updated in a statement Last The following year, CBS acknowledged that systemic and anti-Black racism had affected the national donor base. While Black Canadians reached 1.5 million people in 2021 – 4.3 per cent of the population – they represent less than one per cent of Canada blood donors.

As CBS works to improve antitrust, Héma-Quebec has also been running a campaign for years, trying to get more Black Quebecers to donate. The blood agency estimates about 10,000 black quebecers Donate blood every year, but it requires 26,000 blood donors.

Akelia Campbell, who has sickle cell anemia, is among those who rely on blood donations. She often speaks to the media about her condition, which first surfaced when she was just a few months old.

“As a child, I was often in and out of the hospital,” she said.

As an adult, she said she has a fairly normal life, but it affects her socially, at work and in parenting because she has to prioritize rest and avoid getting too cold or overexerting herself — triggers that cause her painful avascular necrosis arthritis to flare up.

Héma-Quebec nurse Chantal Goupil told people Suffering from sickle cell anemia.

“It is very difficult for them,” she said. “So, we need more blood from the black community.”

HEMA Quebec says mobilizing donors from black communities makes a big difference in the quality of life of people with sickle cell anemia. website.

It states, “To effectively treat affected people, the donor and recipient must share the same genetic makeup.” “This is why black donors are important to the community.”

As for Etienne, he said his blood was going to a patient.

“It feels good,” he said. “I don’t know that person, but because of me I give that person a chance to live.”