Ensuring Health Equity: Partnerships for Accessible Quality Products

Message from Dr Rogério Gaspar, Director, WHO Regulation and Prequalification

Rogério Gaspar, Director, WHO Department of Regulation and Prequalification

I am pleased to share the success of the 2024 United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and World Health Organization (WHO) joint meeting with manufacturers and suppliers, held from December 2–6 in Copenhagen, Denmark. This event brought together global leaders to advance our mission of ensuring health equity through collaboration, innovation and local manufacturing. The insights gained and outcomes achieved during the meeting will serve as a guiding framework for our future initiatives and contribute significantly to advancing universal health coverage. Thank you to all our partners and participants for making this milestone event possible.

Introduction

Joint WHO-UNICEF-UNFPA Meeting for Manufacturers and Suppliers

The annual joint meeting, hosted by WHO, UNICEF, and UNFPA, successfully convened leading manufacturers and suppliers of essential health products, including vaccines, diagnostics, pharmaceuticals, contraceptive devices, and vector control products. Under the 2024 theme of Ensuring Health Equity: Partnerships for Accessible Quality Products, the event focused on leveraging partnerships, innovation and local manufacturing to promote sustainable access to quality-assured health products.

Building on the momentum from the 2023 meeting, this year’s agenda emphasized the importance of local manufacturing, end-to-end supply chain resilience, and the application of innovative technologies. Attendees engaged in a dynamic lineup of plenary sessions, technical updates, regulatory discussions, and one-on-one meetings. With over 450 in-person participants and a significant virtual presence, the meeting set the stage for collaborative strategies to drive global health equity.

Objectives

Provide updates on prequalification, regulatory, and procurement activities.
Facilitate discussions on challenges and innovations in health product access.
Showcase global initiatives in local manufacturing for supply chain sustainability.
Gather feedback from stakeholders to shape future agency priorities.
Focus on achieving universal health coverage goals through equitable access to health products.

Meeting highlights

Collaborative solutions for health equity: The central theme, Ensuring Health Equity: Partnerships for Accessible Quality Products underscored the importance of working together to improve access to quality-assured health products globally.
Local Production and Assistance (LPA) driving progress: Strengthening local production and technology transfer remains a priority. Specialized technical assistance is provided to manufacturers to ensure compliance with WHO prequalification and Emergency Use Listing requirements. This enhances capacity and reduces delays in production. The 3rd World Local Production Forum in April 2025 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates will enable progress to move the agenda further.
Streamlined regulatory pathways: The WHO Listed Authorities initiative and Collaborative Registration Procedure continue to streamline regulatory processes, improve reliance and expedite access to quality-assured medical products, including the successful pilot for vector control products in Ghana. The Coalition of Interested Parties is an example of a partnership among many partners, working to address Member States needs in a coordinated and impactful manner.
Innovative prequalification practices: The prequalification process for medicines, vaccines, diagnostics and vector control products has seen significant progress with the introduction of tools such as the ePQS system and the planned transition to the electronic Common Technical Document.
Integrated sustainability in health products: Sustainability is a focus, including innovative packaging solutions for contraceptives and integration of climate-conscious principles into WHO norms and standards.
Strengthened supply chains for equitable distribution: UNFPA and UNICEF initiatives are driving strategic sourcing, digitized stock management and enhanced quality assurance processes to ensure reliable and equitable distribution of essential medicines and health technologies.
Advancing treatment and diagnostics: Updates to WHO treatment guidelines and the identification of priority product needs – such as cancer medications for children – highlight opportunities for manufacturers and procurers to address gaps in quality and access.
Dynamic engagement and collaboration: The hybrid format fostered meaningful dialogue through well-attended sessions, panel discussions and workshops. This created robust interaction among manufacturers, regulators and procurement agencies.

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Conclusion

The 2024 joint meeting reinforced the vital role of partnerships, innovation and local manufacturing in advancing universal health coverage. By fostering open dialogue and collaboration, the event laid a strong foundation for addressing global health challenges and ensuring equitable access to quality health products. The outcomes of this meeting are set to guide future initiatives and make a significant contribution to global health goals.