Leadership, management, quality, and innovation in organ donation: 2019 Kunming recommendations for One Belt & One Road countries

Abstract

The findings and recommendations of the 2019 consensus conference in organ donation, held in Kunming, China, are here reported. The main objective of the conference was to gather relevant information from experts involved in the field. The data and opinions provided allowed to propose a series of recommendations for “One Belt & One Road Countries” on how to achieve self-sufficiency in organ donation. Leadership in organ donation should be results-oriented and goal-driven based on the principles of excellence, empowerment, and engagement, providing the means, resources, and strategies necessary to reach the goal in earnest. Management includes good governance and transparency of a national registry of patients in the waiting list, donors, transplants, transplant teams, quality, and safety programs with continuous educational training of health care professionals. Mandatory monitoring, auditing and evaluation of quality must be incorporated into donation practices as relevant points in innovation, as well as the adoption of already established and novel processes and technologies. Achievement of self-sufficiency in organ donation is a crucial step to fight against transplant tourism and to prevent organ trafficking. Based on recommendations arising from the conference, each country could review and develop individualized action plans adjusted to its own circumstances and reality.