[e-drug] WHO updates Essential Medicines List (2)

e-drug
1

E-DRUG: WHO updates Essential Medicines List (2)
------------------------------------------------------------

20th Essential Medicines List (2017)
http://www.who.int/medicines/news/2017/20th_essential_med-list/en/

The 20th Essential Medicines List, published on 6 June 2017, marks the 40th
anniversary of this flagship WHO tool to expand access to medicines. The
updated list adds 30 medicines for adults and 25 for children, and
specifies new uses for 9 already-listed products, bringing the total to 433
drugs deemed essential for addressing the most important public health
needs globally.

The 20th List also provides new advice on which antibiotics
to use for common infections and which to preserve for the most serious
syndromes, based on a thorough review of all essential antibiotics.
Intended to optimise antibiotic use and reduce antibiotic resistance
without restricting access, the List categorises antibiotics into three
groups: ACCESS, WATCH, RESERVE.

Other important additions include medicines for HIV, hepatitis C,
tuberculosis and cancer. The updated EML also includes several new drugs,
such as two oral leukemia treatments, a new pill for hepatitis C that
combines two medicines, a new treatment for HIV as well as an older drug
that can be taken to prevent HIV infection in people at high risk, new
paediatric formulations of medicines for tuberculosis, and two cancer pain
relievers

The 2017 Expert Committee on the Selection and Use of Essential Medicines

   - EML 20th edition (March 2017)
   pdf, 1.50Mb
   <http://www.who.int/entity/medicines/publications/essentialmedicines/20th_EML2017.pdf?ua=1&gt;

   - EML Children 6th edition (March 2017)
   pdf, 1.19Mb
   <http://www.who.int/entity/medicines/publications/essentialmedicines/6th_EMLc2017.pdf?ua=1&gt;

   - Executive Summary
   pdf, 723kb
   <http://www.who.int/entity/medicines/publications/essentialmedicines/EML_2017_ExecutiveSummary.pdf?ua=1&gt;
  
- Unedited Full Report
   pdf, 8.91Mb
   <http://www.who.int/entity/medicines/publications/essentialmedicines/EML_2017_EC21_Unedited_Full_Report.pdf?ua=1&gt;

Carinne Bruneton
E-med /E-Drug moderator
Bruneton Carinne <carinne.bruneton@gmail.com>

2

E-DRUG: WHO updates Essential Medicines List (3)
--------------------------------------------------------------

Hello Everyone,

It is interesting to note that the opening letters in the group titles in
categorisation of antibiotics in the latest WHO EML 2017 -
Access, WAtch and REserve, make a very relevant acronym - AWARE.

It is tempting to comment that the aim of such categorisation is to make all stakeholders AWARE of the principles behind, in order that they all change their antibiotic usage behaviour appropriately.

Best.

Dr Santanu K Tripathi
Professor & Head
Department of Clinical & Experimental Pharmacology
Calcutta School of Tropical Medicine
108 C R Avenue, Kolkata 700073 India
Email : tripathi.santanu@gmail.com