# \[e-drug\] WHO consultation access to essential medicines and health technologies for NCDs

**URL:** <https://talk.edrugplus.org/t/e-drug-who-consultation-access-to-essential-medicines-and-health-technologies-for-ncds/41865>\
**Category:** e-drug\
**Created:** [July 13, 2015, 2:08am UTC](https://talk.edrugplus.org/t/e-drug-who-consultation-access-to-essential-medicines-and-health-technologies-for-ncds/41865 "2015-07-13T02:08:16Z")\
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**Author:** ![AJUEBOR\_Onyema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c57346/32.png) [@AJUEBOR\_Onyema](https://talk.edrugplus.org/u/AJUEBOR_Onyema)\
**Post date:** [July 13, 2015, 2:08am UTC](https://talk.edrugplus.org/t/e-drug-who-consultation-access-to-essential-medicines-and-health-technologies-for-ncds/41865/1 "2015-07-13T02:08:16Z")

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E-DRUG: WHO consultation access to essential medicines and health technologies for NCDs  
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The WHO has published a discussion paper on improving access to essential  
medicines and basic health technologies for noncommunicable diseases (NCDs).  
See the link below for more information.

[http://who.int/nmh/events/ncd-coordination-mechanism-essential-medicines/en/](http://who.int/nmh/events/ncd-coordination-mechanism-essential-medicines/en/)

The goal is to assist Member States in their national efforts to achieve  
target 9 as outlined in the Global Action Plan for the Prevention and  
Control of NCDs 2013-2020. "An 80% availability of the affordable basic  
technologies and essential medicines, including generics, required to treat  
major noncommunicable diseases in both public and private facilities."

A key aspect of NCD prevention and control requires that patients have  
equitable access to affordable medicines and technologies. Unfortunately,  
bottlenecks present within and outside health systems have continued to  
undermine this necessity and contribute to the rising burden of NCDs.  
Spending on medicines and other health technologies are now noted to put  
severe strains on health budgets, accounting for more than half of total  
current health expenditures in some countries.

In order to strengthen efforts to realize the achievement of this target,  
the Secretariat has developed this discussion paper to engage stakeholders  
through a consultative process, to help define ways and means to assist  
Member States in their national efforts to improve equitable access through  
a set of actions.

The paper describes some of the key bottlenecks Member States face, it  
presents ideas on how WHO and relevant stakeholders can support Member  
States to support national efforts and it provides questions to stimulate  
and elicit feedback in order to give input to WHO work, on how to support  
Member States to improve access to essential medicines and basic health  
technologies for NCDs.

You are invited to provide comments by sending an email to  
ncdactionplan@who.int  
by 31 August 2015.

A summary of the feedback obtained through the consultation will be posted  
on the WHO website at the end of the process.

Thanks.

Best regards,

Dr. Onyema Ajuebor  
Consultant  
Management of NCDs, Disabilities, Violence and Injury Prevention (NVI)  
World Health Organization  
Geneva, Switzerland  
ajueboro@who.int