On January 9, 2024, the implementation of the European Union-funded Twinning project “Support in strengthening the capacity of competent institutions in the field of substances of human origin (SoHO)” in Serbia was officially completed.
The purpose of the two and a half-year twinning project was to strengthen capacities, as well as to improve the work of relevant institutions in the SoHO system, with specific focus on the supervision and inspection system.
The project partnership consisted of Lithuania as EU member state and Serbia as a beneficiary country. Project was implemented by the Ministry of Health / Biomedicine Directorate that played a central role and Lithuania’s National Blood Center and National Transplant Bureau. Financial management of the project was provided by the Central Project Management Agency (CPVA).
Through the work with experts, trainings and best practices of European Union countries, this joint project aimed to improve the knowledge of public servants in the Ministry for the creation and implementation of policies in the field of transplantation of human organs, cells and tissues, in vitro fertilization and transfusion medicine, which will after all affect a better health care system for the citizens.
Additional capacity building of the Ministry of Health / Biomedicine Directorate is supposed to enable Serbia to implement European Commission directives, which set standards for quality and safety assurance, processing, donations, procurement, preservation, storage and distribution of human blood and blood components, organs, tissues and cells, as well as for the exchange of organs with other countries.
The project provided direct support to the Serbian administration in order to effectively implement the pre-accession negotiations in the field of health, aimed at EU membership.
Twinning is an instrument of institutional cooperation of the European Union between the public administrations of the EU Member States and the beneficiary / partner countries with the aim of providing support for the transposition, implementation and enforcement of EU legislation.
The project had a budget of €1.5 million.
