WHO Model List of Essential Medicines

The WHO Model List of Essential Medicines identifies medicines considered essential for meeting the priority health needs of populations. It guides countries as they develop national medicine lists and policies.

World Health Organization: The United Nations agency that directs and coordinates international health work. The organization publishes and periodically revises the Model List.
National Essential Medicines List: A country's official selection of medicines considered essential for its population. Countries adapt the WHO model to local disease patterns, resources, and health systems.
Halfdan T. Mahler: A Danish physician who served as WHO director-general from 1973 to 1988. Mahler's WHO leadership advanced primary health care and the essential-medicines initiative.
Rational use of medicines: Use of medicines appropriate to clinical needs, in correct doses and duration, at the lowest cost to patients and communities. A selected medicine benefits health only when prescribed and used appropriately.
Health technology assessment: A systematic evaluation of a health technology's properties, effects, and broader consequences. Assessment methods can clarify how new treatments compare with existing listed options.
Essential medicines: Medicines selected to meet the priority health needs of a population. The list applies this broader public-health principle to specific medicines.
Generic drug: A medicine equivalent to a branded product in active ingredient, strength, dosage form, and intended use. Generic prescribing can make essential treatments more affordable and accessible.
Declaration of Alma-Ata: A 1978 international declaration that made primary health care central to health-for-all goals. Its commitment to primary health care reinforced the case for dependable essential medicines.
Medicine shortage: A situation in which a medicine's supply cannot meet demand for patients and health systems. Listing a medicine does not guarantee that it will remain available in practice.
Orphan drug: A medicine developed or designated for a rare disease affecting relatively few people. Rare-disease treatments test how population-level priorities account for small patient groups.

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