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WHO (www.who.int)
The World Health Organization (WHO) is the United Nations' specialized agency for health. It was established on 7 April 1948. WHO's objective, as set out in its Constitution, is the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of health. Health is defined in WHO's Constitution as a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.
WHO is governed by 193 Member States through the World Health Assembly. The World Health Assembly is composed of representatives from WHO's Member States. The main tasks of the World Health Assembly are to approve the WHO programme and the budget for the following biennium and to decide major policy issues.
WHO AND TRANSPLANTATION ( www.who.int/transplantation)
Following the World Health Assembly Resolution WHA57.18, transplantation became an area of work at WHO. The mission of WHO in transplantation is carried out by the Clinical Procedures unit in the Department of Essential Health Technologies (EHT/CPR). This unit is responsible for promoting the ethics of donation and transplantation and the appropriate effective and safe use of cells, tissues and organs for transplantation.
The objectives are summarized as follows:
1. To work with Member States and to provide assistance at their request to ensure effective national oversight of allogeneic and xenogeneic transplantation activities. This would ensure accountability, traceability and appropriate surveillance of adverse events.
2. To increase access of citizens to safe and effective transplantation of cells, tissues and organs. Additionally, to ensure ethical and technical practices from procurement of human material for transplantation to the follow-up of recipients and live donors.
3. To promote international cooperation to encourage the global harmonization of technical and ethical practices in transplantation. This would include the prevention of the exploitation of the disadvantaged through transplant tourism, and the sale of human material for transplantation.
4. To encourage the donation of human material for transplantation, in particular promoting deceased donor donations.
ONT (www.ont.es)
The Spanish National Transplant Organization, Organización Nacional de Trasplantes (ONT), is the technical coordinating institution that belongs to the Spanish Ministry of Health, Social Policy and Equality. It is in charge of coordinating donations and transplantations performed on a national scale, assuring the best use of organs, tissues and cells.
According to the principles of cooperation, efficacy and solidarity, ONT coordinates and facilitates the activities of donation, extraction, preservation, distribution, exchange and transplantation of organs, tissues and cells across the Spanish health system.
ONT also acts as a service agency for the national health system, promoting a continuous increase of availability of organs, tissues and cells for transplantation. Therefore its main objective is to promote altruistic donation with the sole goal that every Spanish citizen who needs a transplant has the best possibility of obtaining one.
Since the creation of ONT in 1989, Spain has progressively reached the highest rate of organ donation thanks to the implementation of the well-known Spanish Model. The model takes into consideration organizational measures to improve organ donation which are considered key issues for the success of the transplant system. Thus, the Spanish Model has become the international reference when facing the problem of scarcity of organ donors. |