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Plenarias
UNSCEAR GLOBAL SURVEY OF MEDICAL EXPOSURE
Shannoun, Ferid
The UNSCEAR secretariat, P.O. Box 500, 1400 Vienna, Austria.
ferid.shannoun@unscear.org
In 1955, the General Assembly of the United Nations has established the Scientific Committee
on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR) to assess and report levels, effects and risks of
exposure to ionizing radiation from all sources, including those used in medicine. Information on
the use of radiation for treatment and diagnosis and the associated doses is obtained by
reviewing the scientific literature and through population-based surveys. Over the past 30 years,
UNSCEAR has regularly assessed the levels and trends of medical exposures globally and has
carried out surveys to collect the required information from UN Member States.
It is known today that medical radiation exposure is by far the largest artificial source of
radiological exposure in many countries and it continues to increase considerably. UNSCEAR’s
surveys are also used to identify gaps in radiation treatment capabilities and possible
unwarranted dose variations for similar radiological examinations or procedures.
UNSCEAR has launched in August 2014 a new Global Medical Exposure Survey by inviting the
UN Member States to submit data on medical radiological exposure from diagnostic and
interventional radiology, nuclear medicine and radiation therapy. The World Health Organization
(WHO) supports the new UNSCEAR survey, considering the data on radiological exposure in
medicine as public health relevant. Further, the active involvement of WHO enables contact with
health authorities as important sources of information.
In recent years, UNSCEAR has developed an improvement strategy to address some existing
deficiencies in data quality and collection of former surveys and to increase participation of UN
Member States in its new survey. The three major elements of the strategy are:
(1) introduction of UNSCEAR’s online platform (www.survey.unscear.org) which fosters secure
submission, exchange and archiving of data. Only registered persons will have access to the
online platform.
(2) request for nomination of national contact persons — via official channels — to coordinate,
at country level, the collection and submission of data on radiation exposure of workers, the
general public and patients. Subsidiary technical experts might register on the online platform to
assist the national contact person in collecting the requested information and data.
(3) establishment of an Expert Group on Medical Exposure, who assist the secretariat in the
evaluation of the submitted data and the check of their quality.
The data and findings provided by UNSCEAR have been used to establish frameworks for
radiation protection activities in medicine in the past such as the Action Plan for Patient Safety
established by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) or WHO’s Global Initiative for
Radiation Safety in Health Care Settings. More recent, UNSCEAR collaborates closely with the
IAEA and WHO to implement Action 6 of the recent Bonn Call for Actions, which requests an
increase availability of improved global information on medical and occupational exposures in
medicine.