Preamble
1. As the Director-General’s report to the Executive Board at its Seventy-ninth session pointed out, 2 human organ transplantation began with a series of experimental studies at the beginning of the twentieth century. The report drew attention to some of the major clinical and scientific advances in the field since Alexis Carrel was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1912 for his pioneering work. Surgica
1. As the Director-General’s report to the Executive Board at its Seventy-ninth session pointed out,2 human organ transplantation began with a series of experimental studies at the beginning of the twentieth century. The report drew attention to some of the major clinical and scientific advances in the field since Alexis Carrel was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1912 for his pioneering work. Surgical transplantation of human organs from deceased, as well as living, donors to sick and dying patients began after the Second World War. Over the past 50 years, the transplantation of human organs, tissues and cells has become a worldwide practice which has extended, and greatly enhanced the quality of, hundreds of thousands of lives. Continuous improvements in medical technology, particularly in relation to organ and tissue rejection, have led to an increase in the demand for organs and tissues, which has always exceeded supply despite substantial expansion in deceased organ donation as well as greater reliance on donation from living persons in recent years.
2. The shortage of available organs has not only prompted many countries to develop procedures and systems to increase supply but has also stimulated commercial traffic in human organs, particularly from living donors who are unrelated to recipients. The evidence of such commerce, along with the related traffic in human beings, has become clearer in recent decades. Moreover, the growing ease of international communication and travel has led many patients to travel abroad to medical centres that advertise their ability to perform transplants and to supply donor organs for a single, inclusive charge.
3. Resolutions WHA40.13 and WHA42.5 first expressed the Health Assembly’s concern over commercial trade in organs and the need for global standards for transplantation. Based on a process of consultation undertaken by the Secretariat, the Health Assembly then endorsed the WHO Guiding Principles on Human Organ Transplantation in resolution WHA44.25. Over the past 17 years the Guiding Principles have greatly influenced professional codes and practices as well as legislation around the world. In the light of changes in practices and attitudes regarding organ and tissue transplantation, the Fifty-seventh World Health Assembly in resolution WHA.57.18 requested the Director-General, inter alia, “to continue examining and collecting global data on the practices, safety, quality, efficacy and epidemiology of allogeneic transplantation and on ethical issues, including living donation, in order to update the Guiding Principles on Human Organ Transplantation”.
4. The following Guiding Principles are intended to provide an orderly, ethical and acceptable framework for the acquisition and transplantation of human cells, tissues and organs for therapeutic purposes. Each jurisdiction will determine the means of implementing the Guiding Principles. They preserve the essential points of the 1991 version while incorporating new provisions in response to current trends in transplantation, particularly organ transplants from living donors and the increasing use of human cells and tissues. The Guiding Principles do not apply to transplantation of gametes, ovarian or testicular tissue, or embryos for reproductive purposes, or to blood or blood constituents collected for transfusion purposes. Cells, tissues and organs may be removed from deceased and living persons for the purpose of transplantation, only in accordance with the following Guiding Principles.
WHO Guiding Principles on Human Cell, Tissue and Organ Transplantation_Executive Board (EB123/5) at its 123rd session on 26 May 2008.