Health products policy and standards

Our team provides authoritative guidance and standards on quality, safety and efficacy of health products and supports countries to formulate evidence-based policies and ensure good practice throughout the value chain.

About us

Highlights

Ministry of Health staff at their office in Port Vila

Events

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28 October 2025 09:00 – 10:30 UTC Time

Open session preceding the 58th meeting of the WHO International Working Group for Drug Statistics Methodology

INN and Classification of Medical Products (INN)

28 – 29 October 2025

58th meeting of the WHO International Working Group for Drug Statistics Methodology

4 – 7 November 2025

Global Forum for Public Procurement of Health Products

News

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19 September 2025

Departmental update

WHO publishes full national policy guidance to support equitable access to controlled medicines

5 September 2025

News release

WHO updates list of essential medicines to include key cancer, diabetes treatments

11 July 2025

Departmental update

Public procurement as a key tool to tackle health issues discussed at WHO-WIPO-WTO webinar

Calls for

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24 June 2025

Call for submissions

Public notice and comments on the Technical Advisory Group on the use of digital technologies to enhance access to assistive technology

2 May 2025

Call for consultation

Call for public consultation - Defining the term “diagnostics”

2 May 2025

Call for experts

Call for Experts - Strategic and Technical Advisory Group on Medical Devices (STAG MEDEV)

Expert Committees

Advisory groups

Databases

Antibiotic characterization (AWaRe)

Assistive Technology Data Portal

ATC/DDD Index

International Pharmacopoeia

Model list of Essential Medicines

National Essential Medicines Lists

Model list of in Vitro Diagnostics

Priority Medical Devices Information System

ECDD Information repository

Medicine Prices and Other Market Information Sources

Publications

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Improving access to assistive technology in United Republic of Tanzania (2022-2023): project report

The report summarizes a collaboration between the Ministry of Health of the United Republic of Tanzania, HelpAge Tanzania and the World Health Organization...

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Enabling rapid access to essential assistive technology in Ukraine (2022-2023): project report

This report summarizes a collaboration between the Ministry of Health of Ukraine and the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2022 and 2023. The goal was...

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The Third issue of volume 39 for 2025 includes:Consultation Documents: Cefiderocol sulfate tosilate (cefiderocoli sulfas tosilatum) Cefiderocol powder...

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Availability, price and affordability of health technologies for the management of diabetes

The WHO list of priority medical devices for management of cardiovascular diseases and diabetes, https://iris.who.int/handle/10665/341967, describes those...

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Training

School of International Nonproprietary Names

Training in Assistive Products

Technical Briefing Seminar

Tools

Data Collection on Assistive Technology

Biosimilars Access Toolkit

Decision Support Tool for Blood Safety

MedMon Mobile Monitoring

Journal articles

The “Square Box”: Therapeutic Equivalence as a Foundation of the WHO Model List of Essential Medicines

Front Pharmacol. 2020 Sep 11;11:578000

WHO's essential medicines and AWaRe: recommendations on first- and second-choice antibiotics for empiric treatment of clinical infections

Clinical Microbiology and Infection 30 (2024) S1eS51

Identifying and costing common gaps in Central and West Africa pharmaceutical regulation

Front. Med., 05 April 2024 Sec. Regulatory Science

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Multimedia

Video thumbnail of WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

13 June 2025

World Blood Donor Day 2025

Hope Gordon explains the importance of having a good prosthetic that fit well

16 September 2024

Hope Gordon explains the importance of having a good prosthetic that fits well

16 September 2024

Zahra Nemati on why using an efficient wheelchair is vital & how cities can be made more accessible

16 September 2024

Sulaiman Mayanja on the importance of accessibility

Feature stories

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24 April 2023

Ministry of Health, WHO and EU partner to boost access to medicinal oxygen in Vanuatu

13 February 2023

WHO and Government of United States of America deliver medical oxygen systems to Ukrainian hospitals

11 October 2022

IsDB and WHO provide sustainable life-saving medical oxygen for millions in Yemen

Questions and answers

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Related Teams

Regulation and Prequalification

Contact

[email protected]

Health Topics

Health interventions

Assistive technology

Substances

Biologicals

Physiological interventions

Blood products

Substances

Drugs (psychoactive)

Highlights

Pharmaceutical pricing policy

Call for experts

Public Procurement of Health Products

HTAP

Events

Open session preceding the 58th meeting of the WHO International Working Group for Drug Statistics Methodology

58th meeting of the WHO International Working Group for Drug Statistics Methodology

Global Forum for Public Procurement of Health Products

News

Calls for

Expert Committees

Advisory groups

Databases

Publications

Improving access to assistive technology in United Republic of Tanzania (2022-2023): project report

Enabling rapid access to essential assistive technology in Ukraine (2022-2023): project report

WHO Drug Information - Volume 39, No. 3

Availability, price and affordability of health technologies for the management of diabetes

Training

Tools

The “Square Box”: Therapeutic Equivalence as a Foundation of the WHO Model List of Essential Medicines

WHO's essential medicines and AWaRe: recommendations on first- and second-choice antibiotics for empiric treatment of clinical infections

Identifying and costing common gaps in Central and West Africa pharmaceutical regulation

World Blood Donor Day 2025

Hope Gordon explains the importance of having a good prosthetic that fits well

Zahra Nemati on why using an efficient wheelchair is vital & how cities can be made more accessible

Sulaiman Mayanja on the importance of accessibility

Feature stories

Oxygen

Blood products: Blood donation

Medicines: Good manufacturing practices

Related Teams

Contact

Health Topics

Highlights

Pharmaceutical pricing policy

Call for experts

Public Procurement of Health Products

HTAP

Events

Open session preceding the 58th meeting of the WHO International Working Group for Drug Statistics Methodology

58th meeting of the WHO International Working Group for Drug Statistics Methodology

Global Forum for Public Procurement of Health Products

News

Calls for

Expert Committees

Advisory groups

Databases

Publications

Improving access to assistive technology in United Republic of Tanzania (2022-2023): project report

Enabling rapid access to essential assistive technology in Ukraine (2022-2023): project report

WHO Drug Information - Volume 39, No. 3

Availability, price and affordability of health technologies for the management of diabetes

Training

Tools

The “Square Box”: Therapeutic Equivalence as a Foundation of the WHO Model List of Essential Medicines The “Square Box”: Therapeutic Equivalence as a Foundation of the WHO Model List of Essential Medicines

WHO's essential medicines and AWaRe: recommendations on first- and second-choice antibiotics for empiric treatment of clinical infections WHO's essential medicines and AWaRe: recommendations on first- and second-choice antibiotics for empiric treatment of clinical infections

Identifying and costing common gaps in Central and West Africa pharmaceutical regulation Identifying and costing common gaps in Central and West Africa pharmaceutical regulation

World Blood Donor Day 2025

Hope Gordon explains the importance of having a good prosthetic that fits well

Zahra Nemati on why using an efficient wheelchair is vital & how cities can be made more accessible

Sulaiman Mayanja on the importance of accessibility

Feature stories

Oxygen Oxygen

Blood products: Blood donation Blood products: Blood donation

Medicines: Good manufacturing practices Medicines: Good manufacturing practices

Related Teams

Contact

Health Topics

The “Square Box”: Therapeutic Equivalence as a Foundation of the WHO Model List of Essential Medicines

WHO's essential medicines and AWaRe: recommendations on first- and second-choice antibiotics for empiric treatment of clinical infections

Identifying and costing common gaps in Central and West Africa pharmaceutical regulation

Oxygen

Blood products: Blood donation

Medicines: Good manufacturing practices