China's first voluntary organ donation system is in the midst of its trial run. The program is being tested in 11 pilot regions around the country, having harvested organs from more than 100 donors in this inaugural year. Overseen by the Red Cross Society of China and the country's Ministry of Health, the system follows cardiac death standards in organ donation practice. This policy derogates from donation norms in the West, where brain death is the primary standard in use.

The criteria for each standard differ in significant ways. Brain death involves the irreversible loss of all neurological functions in the brain. This includes the brain stem, through which the body's nerve connections pass. While brain-dead patients therefore have zero motor or sensory functions, their blood does continue to circulate. This helps to keep a donor's organs from deteriorating prior to their retrieval in the operating room.

Cardiac death, on the other hand, is defined by complete and irreversible cessation of circulatory function in the body. Respiratory function also ceases. In donation cases, planned withdrawal from life support devices like ventilators for breathing happens within a controlled environment and death occurs in a matter of minutes. These procedures generally do not happen in an ad-hoc fashion with patients who suffer unexpected cardiac arrest and death. Typically, death is pronounced between 2 and 5 minutes after asystole – defined by the complete stop of blood flow and pulse in the body – sets in. According to researchers at the University of Pittsburgh, there is no evidence that circulation can spontaneously return after 2 minutes of cessation.

There is very little difference in organ transplant success between those obtained after brain death or after cardiac death. Under the cardiac death standard, though, time is of the essence: organs are not protected by continued blood circulation, and are at risk for damage from lack of oxygen in the body. A liver should be recovered less than 30 minutes after life support has been shut off; the kidneys and pancreas can thrive for 60 minutes without oxygen. Speed and efficiency are key in cardiac death donation practice.

There are 163 hospitals nationwide in China authorized to perform organ recovery and transplant operations, and many Chinese transplant surgeons have called for brain death legislation to up donation numbers. Interestingly, although brain death is the reigning standard in countries like the United States, organ donation after cardiac death has been on the rise since the mid-2000s, according to data from the American Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network. Huang Jiefu, China's Vice Minister of Health, has been quoted as saying that lack of brain death legislation should not hamper organ donation. Perhaps the country's pilot donation program may prove him right.

Tech Bytes

➲ The Net Prophet 2011 conference is being held May 12 in Cape Town, South Africa. Considered one of Africa's top technology startup conferences, the event is grounded in an "open source" philosophy and is free to attend. This year's lineup includes a talk by Diana Blake from Optimal Energy, the company behind the continent's first home-made electric car. Scheduled to go into mass production in 2013, the Joule will be on display for viewing.

 ➲ Tanzania's government has earmarked nearly $20 million for scientific research available to the most deserving bidder until the end of June this year. Scientists who can convince the country's Commission for Science and Technology of their research's value to development initiatives will gain access to the funds. Close attention is being paid to medicine-focused proposals as three of Tanzania's eight Millennium Development Goals are related to health.

 ➲ Kenya's much-touted mobile number portability (MNP) scheme is failing to take off. The concept, which allows consumers to keep their same mobile when switching phone companies, has been eclipsed by a multi-SIM card model now adopted by most subscribers. Kenya's four major mobile operators – Porting Access Kenya Ltd., Airtel Kenya, Safaricom and Telkom Kenya – collectively spent $21 million on MNP. There is doubt in the industry whether the companies will be able to break even on their investment.