Executive Summary
The World Health Organization (WHO) Essential Medicines List (EML) defines minimum acceptable availability of 376 safe, affordable medicines. Over 150 countries use the EML to guide treatment decisions. However, its utility is hindered - the number of diseases addressed is limited and pathways to spread information are under-powered. As a result, billions of people in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) have inadequate access to treatments for serious illnesses. Our program, Remedi, will uncover additional uses of EML medicines, and catalyze the EML’s global reach by enhancing its format, accessibility, and health worker awareness. We will make better use of what we have. We will systematically curate, validate, share, and locally implement existing and new therapeutic uses, prioritizing the most prevalent medicines for diseases with the highest current and projected future burden, affecting the most vulnerable and marginalized. Hundreds of millions of people will benefit from medicines already in local pharmacies.
Charity, fund, non-governmental organization, religious institution, school, or other entity
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Accomplishments
Our greatest success in the past year has been submitting two applications to the WHO Expert Committee on the Selection and Use of Essential Medicines. This is the WHO’s biannual meeting to revise and update the WHO EML and the WHO EML for Children (EMLc). We proposed new indications for medicines already on the list: N-acetylcysteine for non-acetaminophen-induced acute liver failure and simvastatin for polycystic ovary syndrome. These drug/indication pairs represent significant potential benefit to patients affected by these conditions around the world; both have notable global prevalence, including in low- and middle-income countries, and significant morbidity. In addition to these formal submissions, we have begun periodic discussions with the WHO EML team to explore and refine ideas for further collaboration in service of the EML’s mission. Topics include technical pilots to increase dissemination of the EML to various countries and healthcare provider constituents.
