Who says countries should be self-sufficient in (unremunerated) organs and blood

Abstract

This chapter critiques the twin World Health Organization (WHO) principles of self-sufficiency and nonremuneration in organs and blood, urging a more sensible approach to these scarce resources. WHO and other experts have failed to acknowledge the tension between self-sufficiency and nonremuneration in blood products – no country that fails to pay plasma donors is self-sufficient. Furthermore, international cooperation and cross-border transplantation provide numerous benefits, especially in smaller countries and those without well-developed domestic exchange programs. Substances of human origin are special, but not so special that we prohibit plasma or organ donation. The combination of these twin principles denies to patients whose health and continued survival depends on substances of human origin many of the benefits that trade has brought to so many other human endeavors, such as the production and distribution of food and lifesaving vaccines and other medicines. The effects are particularly damaging to low- and middle-income countries.