Rev Bras Hematol Hemoter. 2011;33(6):449-54 449 Hematology in Latin America: Where are we? Analysis of the reports of Societies of Hematology associated organization of the Highlights of ASH in Latin America 1 Sociedad de Hematologia Del Uruguay 2 Associação Brasileira de Hematologia e Hemoterapia 3 American Society of Hematology 4 Sociedad Argentina de Hematologia 5 Sociedad Boliviana de Hematologia y Hemoterapia 6 Sociedad Chilena de Hematologia 7 Asociacion Colombiana de Hematologia y Oncologia 8 Agrupación Mexicana para Estudios Hematológicos 9 Sociedad Paraguaya de Hematologia 10 Sociedad Peruana de Hematologia 11 Sociedad Venezolana de Hematologia Raul Gabús 1 Sebastian Galeano 1 Carmino Antonio de Souza 2 Scott Howard 3 Jorge Horacio Millone 4 Mario Luis Tejerina Del Valle 5 Jorge Alfaro Lucero 6 Carmen Rosales 7 Maria de los Angeles del Campo Martinez 8 José Zarza 9 Fernando Cauvi 10 Gabriel Borelli 1 Mercedes Prieto 11 In recent years there has been great increase in the relationship between the Latin American Societies of Hematology and the American Society of Hematology. This led to the meeting Highlights of the American Society of Hematology (ASH) in Latin America (HOA-LA), first held in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil with its third meeting taking place in 2011 in Punta del Este in Uruguay. With this exchange, it soon proved necessary to know the reality of hematology in Latin America and the context of development in different countries, so that the links between the different scientific societies of the area would become stronger. With this in mind, information was collected using a standardized questionnaire provided to the participants of the 2011 HOA-LA accompanied by guidelines on how to complete the questionnaire. The information provided was discussed during a specific section of the 2011 HOA- LA on April 30 coordinated by Drs. Raul Gabús, Carmino Antonio de Souza and Scott Howard. The session was attended by representatives of Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela as well as those from the United States of America, Canada, Spain and Italy. The aim of the meeting was to prepare a document to evaluate the current status of hematology in Latin America in order to improve interactions between Latin American Societies of Hematology. An additional objective was to encourage the organization of cooperative projects on support and training for the diagnosis and treatment of patients with blood diseases in Latin America. Member societies of the OAH-LA were asked to designate a spokesperson for this activity before 15 December 2010. Questionnaires were distributed to these spokespeople to obtain a representative sample of partners and hematology services of each country. The questionnaires were then sent to the coordinators in January 2011. In February 2011, each representative wrote a brief summary of data on the general situation in their country that reflected the opinion of the respective Society of Hematology. Data were collected and analyzed by the coordinators of the LA-HOA in Uruguay in March 2011 with the reports being divulged to the participating scientific societies. In April 2011 the results were presented and the final text of the document was discussed. The estimated population of the countries involved (Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela) is approximately 475 million people in an area of 19,046,336 km 2 . There are currently 4,306 hematologists for this population which is a rate of 0.9/100,000 hematologists/inhabitants with a heterogeneous distribution between the countries and between regions within each country. A total of 76.7% hematologists are connected to hematology institutions in their countries (range: 45-100%). In the case of Colombia, the Hematology Society is linked to oncology and in five countries (Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay and Venezuela) to transfusion medicine. In seven countries (Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Paraguay, Uruguay and Venezuela), there are formal medical fellowships programs in hematology. Three countries (Brazil, Colombia and Uruguay) reported that it is the National Health System that regulates funds and supportive care. In the other countries the health care system is divided between the public health insurance, prepayments, loans and others. The participation of the public sector in different countries varies between 25 and 73%. Exclusive private healthcare covers 10 and 20% of care. Conflict-of-interest disclosure: The authors declare no competing financial interest Submitted: 10/20/2011 Accepted: 11/15/2011 Corresponding author: Raul Gabús Hematology Service of the Hospital Maciel, Ministry of Public Health 25 de mayo 174 11.000, Montevideo, Uruguay Phone: 598 2 915 3000 extension 1443 hhmgabus@adinet.com.uy www.rbhh.org or www.scielo.br/rbhh DOI:10.5581/1516-8484.20110121 Forum