Your Excellency Ghislain D’Hoop,
Executive Director Ghada Waly,
President Jagjit Pavadia,
Excellencies, distinguished delegates, dear colleagues and friends.
Around the world, millions of people rely on medicines based on controlled substances.
They rely on them either to manage life, or to manage the end of life.
These controlled medicines are critical for treating patients with severe COVID-19 disease.
They are also essential for pain management in cancer, surgical care and palliative care, and for the management of drug use, neurological and mental health disorders.
And yet millions of other people suffer needlessly, because for them, these essential medicines are out of reach.
In low- and middle-income countries, 97% of the need for immediate-release morphine, an essential medicine for the management of pain and palliative care, is unmet.
And three-quarters of people living with epilepsy in low-income countries do not get the treatment they need, including with controlled medicines.
This appalling lack of access is the result of many factors, including a lack of national policies that facilitate access to controlled medicines, unstable supply chains, and limited production and regulatory capacity.
Spikes in demand, trade restrictions and other supply chain breakdowns are making the situation even worse.
WHO is very concerned about the persistent barriers to the availability of controlled substances for medical and scientific purposes.
Together with UNODC and INCB, we have called for appropriate measures to mitigate the risks of shortages of controlled medicines.
The pandemic has also shown the vulnerability that low and middle countries face in a system where the global production of medicines and other life-saving health products is in the hands of a few nations.
WHO is working with low and middle-income countries to strengthen their manufacturing capacity, and their regulatory and supply chain mechanisms, to scale up the production of quality-assured medicines and ensure their equitable access.
At the same time, the non-medical use and misuse use of psychoactive drugs leads to half a million deaths around the world every year.
The 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, and the 1971 Convention on Psychotropic Substances, provide a unified framework for the international community to prevent the harmful use of psychoactive substances, while enhancing availability of substances for medical and scientific purposes.
As we work to address this global problem, it is critical that we position public health and human rights at the centre of the international drug policy dialogue.
WHO’s Model List of Essential Medicines provides guidance to countries and experts on the effective and safe use of medicines, including controlled medicines, on the basis of robust scientific evidence.
In 2020, WHO released guidelines on the management of chronic pain in children, and we are now developing guidelines on balanced national policies for access and safe use of controlled medicines.
WHO is proud to join the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, and the International Narcotics Control Board to call for international cooperation to increase access to controlled substances for medical and scientific purposes.
Thank you all for your continued partnership and support.
It is critical that we continue work to together, in concert with Member States and civil society, so that people everywhere have equitable access to the medicines they need.
I thank you.