Islamic Republic of Iran | Priority areas | Access to essential medicines and health technology

WHO in Islamic Republic of Iran

Access to essential medicines and health technology

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What we do

  • Investigate adverse events of essential interest (AESI)/adverse events following immunization (AEFI) and exercise pharmacovigilance for vaccines and medicines.
  • Implement the essential medicine list at primary health care (PHC) level.
  • Employ the global benchmarking tool.
  • Prequalify food and drug reference-controlled laboratories.
  • Conduct benchmarking for Persian and traditional medicines.
  • Provide technical support on national health technology transfer and the intellectual property policy and management framework.

WHO works to improve the availability and affordability of medicines, vaccines, and other health technologies at health facilities, in addition to conducting benchmarking for Persian and traditional medicines. We also provide technical support on national health technology transfer and the intellectual property policy and management framework.

The essential medicine list for PHC is currently being revised. The list of medicines that should be available at PHC facilities have been revised for compatibility with defined PHC service packages and the country’s pharmaceutical market.

What we have achieved

  • Prequalification of food and drug reference-controlled laboratories is supported for the physio-chemical laboratory and microbiology laboratory.
  • Training for Islamic Republic of Iran’s national regulatory authority, as well as pharmaceutical producers, to enhance quality assured local production has been arranged.
  • Implementation of global standards for the reference laboratories of Islamic Republic of Iran’s Food and Drug Administration has been achieved and vaccines and medicines are being procured for the use of quality assurance of products.

What is next

  • The Global Benchmarking Tool is planned to be implemented in the country to perform self-assessment of the national regulatory authority. This will enable the national regulatory authority to:

better identify its strengths;

facilitate the formulation of an institutional development plan to build upon strengths and address gaps;