ArticleBMJ global health2025
Time to inclusion of selected medicines for priority diseases in National Essential Medicines Lists compared with the WHO Model List.
Article in BMJ global health, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed.
- Triple drug antihypertensive single-pill combinations included as WHO essential medicines: an overview of efficacy, safety, and cost.Journal of human hypertension · 2026Review
- Public Health Achievements in Rwanda: A 21st Century Transformation.Public health challenges · 2026Review
- Access to Reserve Antibiotics in Latin America and the Caribbean: Situation, Challenges, and Future Directions.Infection and drug resistance · 2026Review
- Unlocking Medical Breakthroughs: The Transformative Role of Case Reports in Clinical Discovery.Reports (MDPI) · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
introductionThe WHO maintains a Model List of Essential Medicines, which guides countries in developing their National Essential Medicines List (NEML) to improve access to medicines. We aimed to assess the time it took for countries to adjust their NEMLs when medicines were added or deleted from the WHO Model List and if this differed between priority diseases.
methodsWe extracted medicines added or deleted from the WHO Model List (2007-2021) for selected priority diseases: diabetes, hepatitis C, HIV, oncology and tuberculosis. These medicines were compared with NEMLs from 20 countries; reimbursement lists (RLs) were used in the absence of an NEML. The time to inclusion in NEMLs/RLs and the percentage of included medicines in the most recent NEML/RL were assessed.
results90 medicines were added, and 15 medicines were deleted from the WHO Model List. Low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs) mostly included medicines in NEMLs after their addition to the WHO Model List (median: 1 year), and high-income countries prior to addition (median: -9 years). Medicines for HIV (62%) and tuberculosis (59%) were most frequently included in the most recent NEML/RL. High-income countries included the most medicines for diabetes (86%) and oncology (67%).
conclusionsThe WHO Model List may be a guiding tool for selecting medicines in LMICs, although it is applied differently between the priority diseases included in the present study. More medicines could be included in NEMLs for non-communicable diseases, which impose a large health burden on LMICs, as a first step to ensure their sustainable access.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.