Why is World Transplant Patient Day celebrated? | News

Can you imagine having a second chance to sustain your life? Organ transplants such as the heart, kidney, and liver have given many people in the world hope to recover their lives.

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June 6 is considered the World Day of Transplant Patients and is conceived to promote a culture of organ donation, which guarantees the improvement of the quality of life of those who need it.

In 2018 and referenced by the United Nations Organization, the University of the Witwatersrand (South Africa), and in particular the Medical Center attached to said university, performed the first liver transplant in the world from a living donor and HIV-positive mother to her son. HIV negative.

"The multidisciplinary team of the university took careful and exhaustive deliberation to reach the decision to perform this procedure, taking into account the basic principles of organ donation, which are universal in nature," the UN declared at the time.

Although living-donor kidney transplants are common, living-donor liver transplants are rare.

And science has already advanced a lot to reach a new World Transplant Day.

Already at the World Health Assembly in its 63rd session, it had said through resolution 63.22 that the voluntary and unpaid donation of organs, cells and tissues from living and deceased donors helped to guarantee a vital resource for communities.

In order to address the issue in the media and promote responsible media treatment of organ, tissue and cell donation through adequate and up-to-date information, various institutes presented in December 2021 a "Guide to recommendations for the media on the responsible approach to news related to donation and transplantation”.

The Instituto Nacional Central Único Coordinador de Ablation e Implanta (Incucai), the Argentine Network of Scientific Journalism (Radpc) and the representation in Argentina of the Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO) participated in it.

Meanwhile, the PAHO/WHO representative in Argentina, Eva Jané Llopis, said that “something we have learned in the Covid-19 pandemic is that it is essential to carry out responsible communication on health-related issues. Communication is a fundamental aspect in the donation and transplantation process, especially in what refers to the promotion and construction of a culture open to it”.

For its part, National Geographic endorsed the Spanish model that "has been at the forefront of organ donation and transplantation for 28 years, positioned as the world leader with 15 daily transplants, 20 percent of all donations from the European Union and 6 percent of global donations.” The country celebrates the National Organ and Tissue Donor Day, the first week of June, coinciding with the global proposal.

And proof of this was the presentation on May 31, 2021 of the documentary by National Geographic Science of Life: Transplants, "an unprecedented access to the functioning of the Spanish model, a world leader for 28 years, and to the scientific innovation that confronts the growing demand for organs.

There are various platforms where you can access up-to-date information and research on transplants, including SciELO, Transplantology, Indian Journal of Transplantation, OBM Transplantation, Heart Vessels and Transplantation,Liver Transplantation, Revista de Nefrología, Dialisis y Transplante, Revista Mexicana de Transplantes , among other.