Nigeria, Sept. 19 -- The Governing Body of Jehovah's Witnesses has relaxed its longstanding policy on the medical use of blood, allowing individual members to decide whether to accept or donate four primary components of blood, including red blood cells, white blood cells, plasma and platelets.

The organisation announced the change on Friday, 18 September 2026, in an official statement issued from its world headquarters in Warwick, New York.

Under the revised position, the decision to accept any of the four components from another person's blood during medical or surgical treatment is now a matter of personal conscience.

The same principle applies to members who wish to donate blood specifically to produce blood components or fractions...