Travelling, living abroad and blood donation
Some stays abroad make you temporarily or permanently ineligible to give blood. Before donating, you must be able to provide the Héma-Québec staff member with a list of the countries you’ve visited over the past 3 years and your return dates.
The following criteria must be met by blood donors:
Chagas disease
If you were born in Latin America, including Mexico, if your mother or maternal grandmother were born there or if you have travelled or lived in Latin America for 30 consecutive days or more, your blood donation will be analyzed to determine whether you are a carrier of Chagas disease.
Malaria - Permanent ineligibility
If you have had malaria before, you cannot give blood or platelets, but you can give plasma if you meet the eligibility criteria.
Malaria - Temporary ineligibility
If you have spent time in one or more high-risk areas in the past 3 years, the length of your ineligibility period will depend on how long you stayed there.
Zika and other arboviruses
If you have travelled outside of Canada, the continental United States and Europe in the last 21 days, you cannot give blood for three weeks (21 days) after you return. This measure is to prevent risks related to Zika and similar viruses such as dengue fever and chikungunya.
Chagas disease
- Argentina
- Belize
- Bolivia
- Brazil
- Chile
- Colombia
- Costa Rica
- Ecuador
- Guatemala
- Guyana
- French Guiana
- Honduras
- Mexico
- Nicaragua
- Panama
- Paraguay
- Peru
- El Salvador
- Suriname
- Uruguay
- Venezuela
Malaria - Temporary ineligibility
If you have spent time in one or more high-risk areas in the past 3 years, the length of your ineligibility period will depend on how long you stayed there:
Less than 6 months: You are eligible 3 months after returning home.
6 months or more: You are eligible 3 years after returning home. When in doubt, or if you have any questions about this criterion, contact us.
- Afghanistan: Country-wide risk
- Angola: Country-wide risk
- Azerbaijan: No risk in the city of Baku
- Bangladesh: No risk in the city of Dhaka
- Benin: Country-wide risk
- Bolivia: No risk in the cities of La Paz, Oruro, Potosi, Sucre and at Lake Titicaca
- Botswana: No risk in the city of Gaborone
- Brazil: No risk in the following areas: Belém, Brasília, Iguaçu Falls, Cuiabá, Rio de Janeiro, São Luís, São Paulo
- Burkina Faso: Country-wide risk
- Burma (Myanmar): Country-wide risk
- Burundi: Country-wide risk
- Cambodia: No risk in the cities of Phnom Penh and Siem Reap and at the Angkor Wat temple site
- Cameroon: Country-wide risk
- Central African Republic: Country-wide risk
- Chad: Country-wide risk
- Colombia: No risk in the cities of Bogotá, Cartagena, Manizales, Medellín and San Juan de Pasto
- Comoros: Country-wide risk
- Congo: Country-wide risk
- Costa Rica: Risk in the provinces of Alajuela and Limón
- Côte d’Ivoire: Country-wide risk
- Democratic Republic of the Congo (Zaire): Country-wide risk
- Djibouti: Country-wide risk
- Dominican Republic: Risk in the provinces of Santo Domingo, La Altagracia (including Punta Cana), San Cristobal and San Juan and in all other provinces located along the border with Haiti (Dajabón, Elías Piña, Independencia, Monte Cristi, Pedernales)
- Ecuador: No risk in the cities of Guayaquil and Quito and on the Galápagos Islands
- Equatorial Guinea: Country-wide risk
- Eritrea: No risk in Asmara
- Eswatini (Swaziland): Country-wide risk
- Ethiopia: No risk in Addis Ababa
- French Guiana: No risk in the city of Cayenne
- Gabon: Country-wide risk
- Gambia: Country-wide risk
- Ghana: Country-wide risk
- Guatemala: No risk in the cities of Antigua and Guatemala and at Lake Atitlán
- Guinea: Country-wide risk
- Guinea-Bissau: Country-wide risk
- Guyana: No risk in the cities of New Amsterdam and Georgetown
- Haiti: Country-wide risk
- Honduras: No risk in the cities of San Pedro Sula and Tegucigalpa
- India: Country-wide risk
- Indonesia: No risk in the cities of Jakarta and Ubud and at the seaside resorts on Java and Bali
- Iran: Risk in the province of Sistan and Baluchestan
- Kenya: Country-wide risk
- Laos: No risk in the city of Vientiane
- Liberia: Country-wide risk
- Madagascar: Country-wide risk
- Malawi: Country-wide risk
- Malaysia: No risk in the cities of George Town and Kuala Lumpur and in Penang State (including Penang Island)
- Mali: Country-wide risk
- Mauritania: Country-wide risk
- Mexico: Risk in the states of Chiapas and Chihuahua
- Mozambique: Country-wide risk
- Myanmar (Burma): Country-wide risk
- Namibia: Country-wide risk
- Nepal: No risk in the city of Kathmandu and on Himalayan trekking trails
- Nicaragua: Risk in the North Caribbean Coast and South Caribbean Coast Autonomous Regions
- Niger: Country-wide risk
- Nigeria: Country-wide risk
- North Korea: Country-wide risk
- Pakistan: Country-wide risk
- Panama: No risk in the Panama Canal Zone, in Panama City and in the provinces of Coclé, Herrera, Panama Oeste, Los Santos and San Miguelito
- Papua New Guinea: Country-wide risk
- Peru: No risk in the city of Lima, at the Cuzco, Machu Picchu and Lake Titicaca tourist sites and in the cities of Arequipa, Ica, Moquegua, Nazca, Puno and Tacna
- Philippines: No risk in the cities of Cebu, Manila and Quezon
- Rwanda: Country-wide risk
- Sao Tome and Principe: Country-wide risk
- Saudi Arabia: No risk in the cities of Jeddah, Mecca, Medina, Riyadh and Taif
- Senegal: Country-wide risk
- Sierra Leone: Country-wide risk
- Solomon Islands: Country-wide risk
- Somalia: Country-wide risk
- South Africa: No risk in the cities of Bhisho, Bloemfontein, Cape Town, East London, Johannesburg, Kimberley, Port Elizabeth and Pretoria
- South Korea: No risk in the city of Seoul
- Sudan: Country-wide risk
- Suriname: No risk in the city of Paramaribo
- Tanzania (United Republic of): Country-wide risk
- Thailand: No risk in the cities of Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Ko Phangan, Ko Samui, Pattaya and Phuket and on the islands of Krabi province (Ko Phi Phi, Ko Yao Noi, Ko Yao Yai and Ko Lanta)
- Togo: Country-wide risk
- Uganda: Country-wide risk
- Vanuatu: Country-wide risk
- Venezuela: Country-wide risk
- Vietnam: No risk in the following cities: Da Nang, Haiphong, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh (Saigon), Nha Trang and Quy Nhon, along with the Mekong and Red River Deltas
- Yemen: No risk in the city of Sanaa
- Zaire (Democratic Republic of the Congo): Country-wide risk
- Zambia: Country-wide risk
- Zimbabwe: Country-wide risk
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