Transplant commercialism and organ trafficking: the Declaration of Istanbul with special relevance to disadvantaged populations living with kidney disease.

This paper provides a historical perspective on organ trafficking and transplant commercialism, an overview of the Declaration of Istanbul [1, 2], and an update on current state. We highlight the importance of this problem pertaining to disadvantaged populations living with or at risk for kidney disease. It was presented during the Kidney Disease in Disadvantaged Populations Satellite Symposium of the World Congress of Nephrology in Hong Kong 2013 (www.theisn.org).