Health products policy and standards
Our team provides authoritative guidance and standards on quality, safety and efficacy of health products and supports countries to formulate evidence-based policies and ensure good practice throughout the value chain.

 

Our vision is a world where every person, everywhere benefits from timely access to safe, effective, and quality-assured medicines and other health products, including innovative products and emerging technologies, to attain the highest possible level of health and well-being. 

Our mission is to facilitate access to safe, effective and quality-assured medicines and health products to achieve universal health coverage goals through the provision of evidence-based normative guidance, standards, specifications, policy and technical assistance to Member States. The scope of our work covers assistive technology; biologicals and biological products (including cell and gene therapies); blood products; internationally-controlled medicines and substances; medical devices, including in vitro diagnostics; medicines; and organs, tissues and cell transplantation.

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Medicines and health technologies monitoring and evaluation

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WHO Expert Committee on Drug Dependence: forty-eighth report

The forty-eighth meeting of the WHO Expert Committee on Drug Dependence (ECDD) was convened from 20 to 22 October 2025 and was coordinated from WHO headquarters...

WHO Drug Information - Volume 40, No. 2

The second issue of volume 40 for 2026 includes:- Evidence-to-Decision Framework to Prioritize PD-1 and PD-L1 Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors for the WHO...

Assistive technology progress assessment questionnaire: tracking progress on access to assistive technology

In May 2018, the World Health Assembly (WHA) adopted resolution WHA71.8 on improving access to assistive technology. The resolution urges Member States...

Global status report on blood safety and availability 2025

The Global status report on blood safety and availability 2025 provides a comprehensive assessment of the status, trends and challenges of national blood...

WHO Expert Committee on Specifications for Pharmaceutical Preparations: fifty-ninth report

This report presents the findings, discussions and recommendations of the fifty-ninth meeting of the WHO Expert Committee on Specifications for Pharmaceutical...

This action framework provides updated strategic direction to advance universal access to safe, effective and quality-assured blood products for the period...

Fifth WHO Global Forum on Medical Devices: report, 2-5 June 2025

This report provides an overview of the Fifth WHO Global Forum on Medical Devices held from June 2 to 5, 2025, in Geneva, Switzerland through a virtual...

Technical Advisory Group on Pricing Policies for Medicines: meeting report, 19 November 2025

On 19 November 2025, the World Health Organization (WHO) convened the Technical Advisory Group on Pricing Policies for Medicines (TAG-PPM). The purpose...