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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9 September – 2 October 2025

WHO’s sixth Virtual cGMP Training Marathon launches to strengthen global local production foundations

Access to Medicines & Technology

14 – 17 October 2025

81st INN Consultation

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

INN Session with INN stakeholders

20 – 22 October 2025

Forty-eighth Expert Committee on Drug Dependence

News

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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

23 June 2025

Departmental update

Global leaders call for the integration of assistive technology and rehabilitation in health emergency response

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

Expert Committee on Selection and Use of Essential Medicines

Expert Committee on Biological Standardization

Expert Committee on Drug Dependence

Expert Committee on Specifications for Pharmaceutical Preparations (ECSPP)

Advisory groups

Advisory Group for Blood Regulation, Availability and Safety

Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on In Vitro Diagnostics (SAGE IVD)

Strategic and Technical Advisory Group on Medical Devices (STAG MEDEV)

Technical Advisory Group of Experts on Assistive Technology

Technical Advisory Group on Local Production and Technology Transfer

Technical Advisory Group on Pricing Policies for Medicines (TAG-PPM)

WHO Technical Advisory Group on the COVID-19 Technology Access Pool

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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The selection and use of essential medicines, 2025: WHO AWaRe (Access, Watch, Reserve) classification of antibiotics for evaluation and monitoring of use

he AWaRe classification is intended as a tool for monitoring antibiotic consumption, defining targets and monitoring the effects of stewardship policies...

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The selection and use of essential medicines, 2025: WHO Model List of Essential Medicines for Children, 10th list

Essential medicines are those that satisfy the priority health care needs of a population. They are selected with due regard to disease prevalence and...

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The selection and use of essential medicines, 2025: WHO Model List of Essential Medicines, 24th list

Essential medicines are those that satisfy the priority health care needs of a population. They are selected with due regard to disease prevalence and...

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The selection and use of essential medicines, 2025: report of the 25th WHO Expert Committee on Selection and Use of Essential Medicines, executive summary

This executive summary reports the recommendations made by the Expert Committee on Selection and Use of Essential Medicines for the 2025 update of the...

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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

Evolution of Ebola and Marburg Treatment Centers Design, a Review of the Last Ten Years of Outbreaks in Africa

Architecture 2024, 4(4), 930-947

Disease foci of pharmaceutical research and development as reflected in applications for International Nonproprietary Names, 1953–2022

Bulletin of the World Health Organization, Volume 103, Number 1, January 2025 1-80

WHO-listed authorities (WLA) framework: transparent evidence-based approach for promoting regulatory reliance towards increased access to quality-assured medical products

Frontiers in Medicine, 23 September 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

hps@who.int

Health Topics

Health interventions

Assistive technology

Substances

Biologicals

Physiological interventions

Blood products

Substances

Drugs (psychoactive)

Health interventions

In vitro diagnostics

Socio-political determinants

Intellectual property and trade

Medical devices

Medicines

Oxygen

Transplantation

Highlights

Pharmaceutical pricing policy

Call for experts

Public Procurement of Health Products

HTAP