Access to medicines and health products

Access to medicines and health products

Universal health coverage can only be achieved when there is affordable access to safe, effective and quality medicines and health products. Countries face a range of obstacles to achieving this, including rising prices for new medicines; shortages and stock outs of essential medicines, especially for noncommunicable diseases, and the growing problem of substandard and falsified medical products entering the global supply chain. Added to this, there are other challenges to ensuring that medicines are not only available, but are used appropriately.

Antimicrobial resistance has become a worldwide problem largely due to overuse, and misuse of opioids has led to an addiction epidemic in some countries. Knowing where to tackle the problem is the first step. WHO works with Member States to identify what their priorities are on the road to achieving this universal access.

Departments

Contact us

Regions contact

AFRO AMRO │ EMRO │ EURO 

SEARO │ WPRO

Adopt AWaRe: Handle antibiotics with care

AWaRe Portal

We can reduce or even reverse antibiotic resistance by using antibiotics more responsibly. But how do we do that and still ensure that patients are treated effectively? WHO has developed a tool to help global, regional and national decision-making on which antibiotics to use when.

 

Publications

All →
WHO Expert Committee on Biological Standardization. Seventy-sixth report

The seventy-sixth meeting of the WHO Expert Committee on Biological Standardization was held virtually from 24 to 28 October 2022. The meeting was opened...

WTO agreements and public health : a joint study by the WHO and WTO secretariat

This comprehensive document deals with the relevant WTO agreements and the way they may influence health and health policies. In undertaking this joint...

World Local Production Forum: Enhancing access to medicines and other health technologies

The World Local Production Forum: Enhancing access to medicines and other health technologies (WLPF) brings the global community – foremost government...