The availability of controlled medicines is crucial for patients requiring palliative care, pain relief and symptom management. Many individuals worldwide, especially in low- and middle-income countries, continue to experience limited access to thes
...
e essential medicines. Enhancing access to controlled medicines is paramount in promoting universal health coverage. This report offers a detailed situational analysis of policies and programmes aimed at improving access to affordable, high-quality controlled medicines for pain management in the WHO South-East Asia Region. The report identifies the existing barriers, challenges and possible solutions to facilitate access to such medicines across all Member States.
more
The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic exacerbated pre-existing inequalities in the treatment and care of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs). This report examines the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on access to NCD medicines, and the policies and
...
strategies implemented by countries and health systems to anticipate and mitigate stresses across NCD medicine supply chains. The full range of upstream and downstream impacts are investigated, including: manufacturing; procurement, importation and last mile delivery; patient-level effects through affordability and availability; and the effects on NCD medicine availability by category of disease. The report culminates in recommended actions and interventions for key stakeholders in the NCD pharmaceutical supply chain, including governments, regulatory authorities, manufacturers and the private sector; as well as directions for future research for improving access and supply chain access resilience.
more
Curriculum reform efforts to enhance training on rational medicine use (RMU) and AMR should pay particular attention to ensuring that the right topics are integrated and the right teaching-learning methodologies are adopted.
The WHO Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study measures the burden of
disease using the disability-adjusted life year metric (DALY). The DALY metric
was developed to assess the burden of disease consistently across diseases,
risk factors and regions. A consistent and comparative description of the
...
burden
of diseases and injuries and the risk factors that cause them is important as it
can inform health decision-making and health care planning.
more
6th edition, 2010. | Published in collaboration with World Health Organisation and Clinton Health Access Initiative.
The incidence and mortality of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) in low and middle income countries (LMICs) have been increasing, while access to CVDs medicines is suboptimal. We assessed selection of essential
...
medicines for the prevention and treatment of CVDs on national essential medicines lists (NEMLs) of LMICs and potential determinants for selection.
more
Including Therapeutic Food, Dietary Vitamin and Mineral Supplementation - 2nd edition
The purpose of this manual is to define a limited number of indicators that will objectively describe the management and use of antimicrobials in hospitals and to provide tools and step-by-step instructions for designing and carrying out an assessme
...
nt of antibiotic use and management in hospitals. The indicators in this manual will complement the existing WHO (1993) indicators of outpatient antimicrobial use suggested in How to Investigate Drug Use in Health Facilities (including percentage of encounters in which an antibiotic was prescribed and percentage of medicine costs spent on antibiotics) and will address the need for antimicrobial indicators for inpatient conditions.
more
Direct acting antivirals (DAAs) have revolutionized treatment for hepatitis C. Combi-
nations of DAAs can cure infection with HCV in 12 weeks, are highly effective and
have limited side-effects. Affordability of DAAs has improved significantly, but access remains lim-
i
...
ted. Initially, due to their high prices, affordability of DAAs was limited in high-, middle- and low-
income countries alike. Now there is a divide between those countries where, because of intellectual
property barriers, prices have remained (very) high and other countries where generics are, or can be,
available at much lower prices. The result is a dual market
more
The publication provides an overview and analysis of international instruments that set standards related to the use of antimicrobials across the human, animal and plant sectors, and their release into the environment. The purpose of the document is
...
to identify existing instruments and standards in order to guide both their implementation and to inform discussions and direction for future international instruments related to antimicrobial use.
more
Maintaining proper storage conditions for health commodities is vital to ensuring their quality. Product expiration dates are based on ideal storage conditions and protecting product quality until their expiration date is important for serving customers and conserving resources. Guidelines for the S
...
torage of Essential Medicines and Other Health Commodities is a practical reference for those managing or involved in setting up a storeroom or warehouse. The guide contains written directions and clear illustrations on receiving and arranging commodities; special storage conditions; tracking commodities; maintaining the quality of the products; constructing and designing a medical store; waste management; and resources. It was written to meet the needs of district-level facilities; however, the guidelines and information it contains apply to any storage facility, of any size, in any type of environment.
more
Male circumcision reduces a man’s risk of heterosexual acquisition of HIV by about 60%. This guideline provides an evidence-based recommendation on the use of adult male circumcision devices for HIV prevention in public health programmes in high H
...
IV prevalence, resource-limited settings. It also presents key programmatic considerations for the introduction and use of these devices in public health HIV prevention programmes. The primary audiences are policy- and decision-makers, programme managers, health-care providers, donors and implementing agencies.
more
Programmatic update
April 2012
Executive Summary