International Health
Volume 11, Issue 2, March 2019
http://inthealth.oxfordjournals.org/content/current

EDITORIAL
Editor’s Choice
The World Health Organization Prequalification Programme—playing an essential role in assuring quality medical products
Philip E Coyne, Jr
International Health, Volume 11, Issue 2, 1 March 2019, Pages 79–80, https://doi.org/10.1093/inthealth/ihy095
The global health community is belatedly recognizing the problem of substandard and falsified (SF) medicines.1 Two recent landmark events took place in September 2018: while the first-ever Medicines Quality and Public Health Conference was under way in Oxford, UK, a concurrent meeting was taking place during the 73rd Session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York… To date, more than 680 medicines (either FPPs or active pharmaceutical ingredients), 148 vaccines, 331 immunization devices, 71 vector control products and 80 diagnostic tests have been prequalified (unpublished data, WHO). This is an important contribution to the global health community and low- and middle-income countries. The introduction of quality-assured medicines using the WHO prequalification listing can help to displace the SF products that might otherwise be procured….