The selection and use of essential medicines. Report of the WHO Expert Committee, 2002 (including the 12th Model list of essential medicines)

Abstract

This report presents the recommendations of the WHO Expert Committee responsible for updating the WHO Model List of Essential Medicines. The first part contains a progress report on the new procedures for updating the Model List and the development of the WHO Essential Medicines Library. It continues to present a summary of the Committee's considerations and justifications for additions and changes to the Model List, including its recommendation to add 12 antiretroviral medicines. Annexes to the main report include the revised version of the WHO Model List of Essential Medicines (the 12th) and, for the first time, a list of all items on the Model List sorted according to their 5-level Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical (ATC) classification codes.