Organ Transplantation in Argentina

Abstract

Argentina is a federal republic located in the southern portion of South America, with a mainland area of 2 780 400 km2. Argentina is the eighth largest country in the world, and the second largest in Latin America. Spanish is the main language; the population has been estimated at 43 847 430 in 2016, (Figure 1). The Human Development Index as a statistical composite of life expectancy, education, and per capita income indicators ranks Argentina as 45th worldwide in 2016. Healthare is provided through a combination of multipayers, including employer and labor union-sponsored plans, government insurance plans and private health insurance providing care through public and private hospitals and clinics. Argentina has reduced its infant mortality from 70 per 1000 live births in 1948, to 12.8 in 2015; life expectancy at birth had been raised from 60 years in 1948, to 76.3 in 2015.FIGURE 1FIGURE 1Organ transplantation started in South America in 1957 with the first kidney transplant in Buenos Aires. In 1979, Argentina developed a National Organization to centralize Procurement and Transplant Services, currently called Instituto Nacional Central Unico Coordinador de Ablación e Implante (INCUCAI). INCUCAI is part of the National Ministry of Health and one of the first organizations of its kind in South America.