Spain has decided to present a proposal for a Resolution on transplantation at the next World Health Assembly to ensure that transplantation continues to have a prominent place in global health policy.
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Vision of the future and best practices in the field of transplantation
The Acting Minister of Health, José Miñones, has made available to the European Union the knowledge, vision of the future and best practices that have made the Spanish Transplant Model a world reference with the aim of providing the EU with a quality transplant network.
This was emphasized during his speech at the closing ceremony of the High-Level Meeting (HLM) ‘Towards a global consensus on transplantation: availability, transparency and registration’, which was held today in Santander.
As José Miñones recalled, Spain was the world leader in organ donation in 2022 with a rate of 47 donors per million population and the National Transplant Organization (ONT) has become an international benchmark organization, robust, with its own budget and support to maximize deceased donation, protect the living donor and guarantee fair access to therapies based on substances of human origin.
Likewise, the ONT carries out “fundamental work” in coordinating the entire national network of organ, tissue and cell donation and transplantation in our country in collaboration with the Autonomous Communities.
In the words of José Miñones, “donation and transplantation have a leading role” in the political agenda of the Spanish Government.
SoHO Regulations and the next Health Assembly
The Acting Minister of Health encouraged the EU Member States to continue working so that Donation and Transplantation programs acquire a priority role in health agendas, reaching a consensus on global objectives for the next decade.
He also reaffirmed the Spanish Government’s commitment to continue raising the tools, projects, initiatives and recommendations that serve to achieve common objectives in the field of donation and transplantation to relevant international bodies and forums.
In this regard, he said that Spain will present a proposed resolution on transplantation at the next World Health Assembly (WHA) to ensure that transplantation continues to have a prominent place in global health policy.
He also expressed his satisfaction with the progress achieved in terms of regulation at the European level on quality and safety standards for substances of human origin (SoHO) during the Spanish Presidency of the Council of the EU. As the minister recalled, a general orientation agreement has already been reached, which will lead to the start of the trilogies within this legislative period.
The proposal, detailed Miñones, creates a new European information system, adapted to digital technologies, which implies the appearance of new structures, such as notification and registration platforms, which will be of great importance in the supervision of the operation of the centres involved in obtaining the different substances and their use, and which will facilitate, in turn, their scientific updating.
“A great challenge to which Spain has committed itself to establish a common regulation for the EU-27 during our Presidency by reaching an agreement on general guidelines. An objective that is progressing at a good pace”, stressed Miñones.
Spain’s commitment in this area is demonstrated by the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the World Health Organization (WHO), which has been renewed annually since 2005 and which includes a provision of funds “that demonstrates our support for the expansion of transplant therapy at an international level”.