Diagnostics are the most important tools that empower the health workforce in the identification of diseases or health conditions. They allow the initiation of treatments in order to avoid further complications and costly treatments for patients.
To address the lack of access to tests and testing services in multiple countries, WHO since 2018 has published a yearly essential diagnostics list (EDL), a basket of recommended in vitro diagnostics that should be available at point-of-care and in laboratories in all countries to increase timely and life-saving diagnoses. The latest edition, published today, includes WHO-recommended COVID-19 ...
The Landscape analysis of commercially available and pipeline in vitro diagnostics for fungal priority pathogens focuses on commercially available diagnostic products and pipeline diagnostic products for invasive fungal diseases (IFDs) and on the identifiable gaps.
Diagnostics are medical devices that provide information about diseases, physiological status, or health conditions in medicine and public health, with any of the following test purposes: screening, detection, prevention, surveillance, diagnosis or aid to diagnosis, monitoring, prediction, investigation, prognosis, or staging.
In vitro diagnostics (IVDs) are tests that can detect disease, conditions and infections. In vitro simply means ‘in glass’, meaning these tests are typically conducted in test tubes and similar equipment, as opposed to in vivo tests, which are conducted in the body itself.
To boost supply chain resilience and regional self-reliance, WHO has been actively advocating for locally manufactured quality-assured medicines and diagnostics. In 2023, a Kenya-based pharmaceutical company became the first African manufacturer to receive WHO prequalification to produce tenofovir disoproxil fumarate, lamivudine and dolutegravir (TLD), a WHO-recommended first-line ...
The group also oversees maintenance of the WHO Model List of Essential In Vitro Diagnostics (EDL), which serves as an evidence-based reference point for countries to develop their own national lists to guide how they choose and use IVDs.