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.