Abstract
EGALiTE (European Group for Accreditation and Liaison of Blood-Tissues and Cells Establishments) is a European Project co-funded by the European Health and Digital Executive Agency. EGALiTE aims to optimize the use of resources available at the European level and enhance the capability of Substances of Human Origin (SoHO) Entities to respond rapidly and in a coordinated fashion to health threats. The project will define a set of guidelines for sharing knowledge resources and SoHO of mutually recognized quality, with the aim of improving patients’ accessibility to treatment while enhancing the resilience of public organizations and health systems.
The goals of the project have been defined based on the needs long identified by the professionals in the field, which became more evident after the COVID-19 crisis when SoHO Entities were under unprecedented stress, putting at risk their capacity to provide adequate care.
The outcomes of EGALiTE aim to support the activities performed in Member States with distinct technical capacities by:
Establishing a European Accreditation Program for SoHO Entities as a means to achieve mutual recognition;
Developing an efficient database of resources (Blood, Tissues, and Cells (BTC), facilities, activities, and innovative techniques, etc.) which will be used to design sufficiency plans and promote collaboration among professionals and Competent Authorities to ensure an adequate supply of BTC in different Member States;
Providing contingency plans to assist the responsible persons in the decision-making process during a crisis;
Implementing a Technical Assistance Program to assist the implementation of good practices and optimization of activities in different Member States.
