Time to inclusion of selected medicines for priority diseases in National Essential Medicines Lists compared with the WHO Model List

Introduction The 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. Methods We 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. Results 90 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%). Conclusions The 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.