Washington DC, November 27, 2021 (PAHO) - From 23-15 November, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) participated in the XXI Meeting of the Ibero-American Network-Council of donor and transplant organizations (known in Spanish as RCIDT), organized by the National Transplantation Organization of Spain (known in Spanish as ONT), a collaborating center of the World Health Organization (WHO).
PAHO, together with the Nacional Central Único Coordinador de Ablación e Implante (known by its Spanish acronym as INCUCAI), chaired a special session and presented the progress of the countries of the Region on the Strategy and Plan of Action on Donation and Equitable Access to Organ, Tissue and Cell Transplants 2019-2030, adopted by the Member States at the PAHO´s 57th Directing Council in 2019. The purpose of the plan is to urge countries to address the issue of transplants from aspects such as stewardship, oversight, access, voluntary donation, and financing, among others, recognizing that this therapy has made great strides in recent years and that its equitable access generates a high impact on the public health of the countries.
PAHO experts also presented the advances in the cost-effectiveness studies of renal replacement therapies carried out in the Region and the preliminary document of Guidelines for the reactivation or maintenance of donation and transplantation services in the context of COVID-19 in Latin American countries 2021 (systematic review and panel of experts) for the review and comments of the RCIDT members.
PAHO presented the virtual courses on “Strengthening the governance of donation and transplants systems” in Spanish and English, which will be available in April 2022.
The Network-Council's mission is to develop cooperation among its members and make recommendations on organizational, regulatory, professional, ethical, and sociological aspects related to the donation and transplantation of organs, tissues, and cells. Since its creation in Mar del Plata in 2005, it has been established as an area of cooperation to develop and strengthen national systems in that specialty.
The PAHO´s area of Donation and Transplantation mission is to cooperate technically with the national donation and transplantation programs in the Region of the Americas to ensure availability and access to human cells, tissues, and organs, also the transparency and combating of human cells, tissues, as well as organs trafficking. The technical cooperation between ONT / RCIDT and PAHO seeks to strengthen the capacity of the countries to implement the Strategy and Plan of Action for Donation and Equitable Access to Organ, Tissue and Cell Transplants 2019-2030.
