title: Haematopoietic cell transplants in Latin America.
abstract: Haematopoietic cell transplants are done by more than 1500 transplant centres in 75 countries, mostly for life-threatening haematological disorders. However, transplant technology and access are not uniformly distributed worldwide. Most transplants are done predominately in Europe, North America and some Asian countries. We review transplant activity in Latin America, a geographic region with a population of >600 million persons living in countries with diverse economic and social development levels. These data indicate a 20-40-fold lower frequency of transplants in Latin America compared with Europe and North America. We show that although economics, infrastructure and expertise are important limitations, other variables also operate. Changes in several of these variables may substantially increase transplant activity in Latin America.
authors.affiliation: Haematology Research Centre, Division of Experimental Medicine, Department of Medicine, Imperial College London, London, UK.
authors.forename: R P
authors.initials: RP
authors.lastname: Gale
authors.affiliation: Latin American Bone Marrow Transplantation Group and Hospital Samaritano, São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Seber
authors.affiliation: Federal University of Parana, Curitiba, Brazil.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bonfim
authors.affiliation: Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research and Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI, USA.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pasquini
mesh_terms: D057217:Economic Development; D018380:Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data* / Q000639:trends; D006801:Humans; D007843:Latin America; D012922:Social Change; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors