GLOBAL MEDICINE LITERACY
What the WHO Model List of Essential Medicines means: a public-health priority, not a personal prescription
The WHO Model List helps countries and health systems identify priority medicines. It is not a ranking of the world's best medicines, an originator-drug list or an individual treatment plan.
It answers what health systems should prioritise first
The WHO Model List of Essential Medicines is designed for health systems. It considers disease burden, public-health relevance, evidence of efficacy and safety, and comparative cost effectiveness to identify priority medicines that should be continuously available, quality-assured and affordable. WHO generally updates the adult and children's lists every two years; the 2025 publications are the 24th adult list and the 10th children's list. They provide a model for national selection and adaptation rather than making an identical procurement or reimbursement decision for every country.
It is not a ranking of the world's best medicines or an originator list
Inclusion does not give a brand, originator status or manufacturer a global ranking, and absence does not mean that a medicine is ineffective or should never be used. The list is organised around medicines, clinical contexts, dosage forms and strengths relevant to public health. It cannot authenticate a pack, confirm current authorisation or supply, or establish interchangeability. Originator and generic relationships still require the target market's approval records, reference-product relationship, dosage form, strength and current label.
Dosage form, strength and population cannot be omitted from a medicine name
The same active ingredient may appear as a tablet, oral liquid, injection, inhaled product, patch or modified-release product. Different strengths and routes can serve different clinical contexts. When reading a WHO entry, keep its dosage form, strength, age group or disease context separate from the identity of a specific product. A list-level name does not automatically map to an exact brand sold in a country and cannot decide whether a product may be split, switched, dose-adjusted or combined.
Countries adapt the model to local burden and health-system needs
WHO reports that more than 150 countries adopt or adapt national essential-medicines lists. National lists may differ according to local disease burden, service capacity, budgets, supply and regulation. The global model list, a national essential-medicines list, an insurance formulary, a procurement list and a hospital formulary are therefore not the same document. Availability, reimbursement and procurement status should be checked in the current official sources for the reader's country or region.
The safest public use is as a question and verification route
When a medicine appears on the WHO list, useful next questions include: which dosage form and strength are listed; how the national list records it; which regulator authorised the exact product in hand; and which label version is current? Bring these questions to a pharmacist or clinician. The list cannot say how many tablets an individual should take today, whether to stop, whether to change brands or whether to buy a medicine independently. Those decisions require the prescription, complete medicine list, clinical situation and applicable current label.
How OriginDrug uses the list
OriginDrug uses the WHO list as one input for global public-health coverage audits and educational planning. It helps identify medicine classes, dosage forms and official routes that need stronger coverage; it is not converted into an originator claim, personal recommendation or sales conclusion. Every specific medicine is still documented by brand and non-proprietary name, active ingredient, form, strength, market, approval and label source, while decisions for a clinician or pharmacist remain clearly outside the site's role.
PRIMARY REFERENCE
Source evidence
Each entry identifies its market, document type, access mode and most recent review date. Public access does not make a document applicable to every market or person. Read the review method.
- WHO: 2025 Model List of Essential Medicines (24th list) ↗reviewed 2026-08-20
- WHO: Essential medicines lists ↗Current regulatory record · reviewed 2026-08-20
- WHO: Essential medicines factsheet ↗reviewed 2026-08-20