PHA Europe campaign on Organ Donation and Transplantation
Picture: Hendrik, Mélanie, Pisana and Aljaz were pulmonary hypertension patients who received organs that saved their lives. They have joined efforts to give patients the chance of having new horizons thanks to a performing European transplant network © PHA Europe
Organ transplantation is vital for the treatment and quality of life of patients living with a wide variety of conditions, such as the ones affecting the liver, kidneys, heart, lungs, pancreas, small bowel and eyes. Our member, the Pulmonary Hypertension Association Europe (PHA Europe) is taking the lead in a campaign to improve organ donation and transplantation across the EU. EPF fully supports this initiative and encourages everyone to get involved.
Organ transplantation is crucial for patients of all ages - including children - as in many cases, this is the only treatment option remaining - and a matter of survival. This is the case, for example, in pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), a rare and life-threatening lung/heart condition. While the EU is taking a number of positive steps to address this situation - by means of an Action Plan, funding of projects and a Directive on standards of quality and safety of human organs - large differences in practices and results exist across the EU. The demand for organs still exceeds the number of available organs in all EU Member States. Moreover, the demand for organs is increasing faster than organ donation rates.
PHA Europe is organizing this campaign in cooperation with other patient associations to improve organ donation and transplantation across the EU, as this issue is crucial in a number of conditions other than PAH, including many rare ones. PHA Europe’s members, for their part, have committed to promoting this Call to Action and to advocating for better awareness, availability, and access to organ transplantation on a wide scale and mapping the current state of play of the field of heart/lung transplantation in their respective countries.
The call to action is addressed to the European Parliament, the European Commission, and the EU Member States. The launch has started with the endorsement of 63 organizations, but the gathering of endorsements will not be closed until the end of the campaign that will last throughout 2016. This is an opportunity for those organizations that wish to play a leading role to involve national transplant bodies and national authorities in improving the current situation in Europe.
All the materials and information can be found at http://www.phaeurope.org/projects-activities/advocacy/call-to-action-on-organ-donation-and-transplantation/