Essential Medicines for Universal Health Coverage
Essential medicines satisfy the priority health-care needs of the population. Essential medicines policies are crucial to promoting health and achieving sustainable development. Sustainable Development Goal 3.8 specifically mentions the importance of "access to safe, effective, quality and affordable essential medicines and vaccines for all" as a central component of Universal Health Coverage (UHC), and Sustainable Development Goal 3.b emphasizes the need to develop medicines to address persistent treatment gaps.
The Lancet’s Commission on Essential Medicines Policies identified five areas that are crucial to essential medicines policies: paying for a basket of essential medicines, making essential medicines affordable, assuring the quality and safety of medicines, promoting quality use of medicines, and developing missing essential medicines. The Commission located essential medicines policies within the context of current global debates about balancing trade and intellectual property policies with human rights, assuring health security, strengthening people-centered health systems, and advancing access to essential technologies. In all policy areas, particular attention was paid to furthering equity in access, strengthening relevant institutions, and creating accountability.
Publication Authors:
- Corrina Moucheraud, ScD, MPH