Hyderabad: Access to quality-assured medical products improves health and save lives. However, one-third of the world’s population lacks timely access to quality-assured medicines while estimates indicate that at least 10% of medicine in low- and middle-income countries substandard or falsified and costs heavily at the same time.
In May 2015, the World Health Organization (WHO) added several important medicines to its Model List of Essential Medicines, commonly known as the Essential Medicines List (EML).
Now, the WHO has come up with new user guide for countries to expand the access to essential medicines by developing their own national essential medicines lists based on their needs and requirements.
Today, as prices of the new medicines are soaring exponentially, approximately half of the world's population is unable to access essential medicines.
In order to progress towards universal health coverage, a careful selection of essential medicines plays a vital role in ensuring that the population can obtain the quality-assured medicines it needs at an affordable price.
WHO's new manual is a resource for counties to ensure that all people and communities can have access to highly effective medicines. The document also aims to increase transparency on how essential medicines are selected.
It has been noted that most national lists of essential medicines do not sink in with WHO's model list, which lists only medicines of proven safety and efficacy.
The concept of 'essential medicines' are:
- Those that satisfy the priority health care needs of the population
- Selected with due regard to disease prevalence and public health relevance, evidence of efficacy and safety, and comparative cost-effectiveness
- Intended to be available within the context of functioning health systems at all times in adequate amounts, in the appropriate dosage forms, with assured quality and adequate information, and at an affordable price.
It is the high time that decision-makers refer to the WHO global list to ascertain the public health value of listing certain medicines for their populations.
According to WHO, in order to achieve universal health coverage and achieve access for all by 2030, at least two billion people will need to have access to essential health services by 2030.
As innovative new medicines are increasingly patented around the world, and are thus available only at monopoly prices that prevent widespread access, a public policy response is needed to address the intellectual property challenges associated with essential treatments.
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