China is willing to contribute more to the global organ transplant cause and help other countries build a voluntary donation system, a senior official said Thursday at a meeting in Geneva, Switzerland.

　　Huang Jiefu, former Chinese vice-minister of health and current head of the National Human Organ Donation and Transplant Committee, made the offer at a side event at the ongoing 71st World Health Assembly (WHA).

　　As head of the Chinese delegation, Huang also introduced China's model of organ donation and transplants, which features strong government support for the legal, administrative and health sectors, at the event.

　　This is the first time the WHA hosted a side event on organ transplants, and inviting China to address the forum showed the international society's recognition of China in this regard, Huang told the Global Times.

　　Huang said the trip's primary objective is to promote a joint effort between the World Health Organization (WHO) task force and the China-proposedBelt and Roadinitiative for a new partnership of win-win cooperation and help create a community of shared future for mankind.

　　China is also encouraged to take a leading role by introducing its model to countries in need, such as helping train surgeons and building a donation system that fully mobilizes the public, Huang said.

　　Since a voluntary donation system was introduced in China in 2010, over 17,337 Chinese citizens have donated their organs after death, and the number of donated organs hit 48,945 and there were more than 459,000 registered organ donors as of May 13.

　　China's reform, including prohibiting the use of organs from executed prisoners and prohibiting foreign patients from undergoing transplants in China, was praised at the conference by Francis Delmonico, an adviser to WHO on organ donation. "This is a model that can be replicated in other locations of the world," Delmonico said at the event.

　　The developments in China represent a "New Era of Organ Donation and Transplants" that complies with UN Sustainable Development Goals targets, read a declaration at a meeting hosted by the Vatican's Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences in March.

　　This was the first time for China, which was excluded for using organs from executed prisoners, to introduce its experience and progress in the sector at the world health body.

　　As the WHO's highest decision-making body, the 71st WHA will run from Monday to Saturday. Other delegations from China are scheduled to attend events and conferences that focus on HIV prevention, tuberculosis treatment, malaria elimination and patient safety.

　　Newspaper headline: Greater organ transplant role eyed