Uganda parliament considers law to curb illicit organ trade
ReutersJul 06, 2022
On Tuesday, Uganda’s Pres. Yoweri Museveni approved a law to prevent the stealing of human organs and tissue, as local media have reported that several women recruited for domestic work in the Middle East were tricked into medical procedures and had their kidneys sold in global trafficking rings.
Health Minister Jane Aceng praised Museveni for the signing of the Uganda Human Organ Donation and Transplant Bill 2023, which comes a day after the president received worldwide backlash for signing one of the world's toughest LGBTQ+ laws.
Following the outcry of Ugandans, the government acted swiftly and strongly against the perpetrators of organ harvesting and trafficking. This legislation, the first of its kind in Uganda, will pave the way for ending the illegal market and make it safer to be a domestic worker and seek aid at hospitals.
While several countries in the Global South, including China, the satellite nations of the former Soviet Union, and Turkey are all known hotspots for organ trafficking, only a handful have laws banning the illicit act. There are signs that governments are willing to act but there's still a long way to go.
There's a 26% chance that lab-grown complex vital organs will be used successfully in humans before 2025, according to the Metaculus prediction community.