The report focuses on prevention and offers the most comprehensive overview of relevant research avaliable to date, ranging from descriptive etiology, cellular and molecular biology, toxicology and pathology through to behavioural and social sciences. Key chapters include discussions on the impact of inequities in cancer, vaccination and screening, genomic individual susceptibility to cancer and the finer identification of those at risk, which may allow 'precision cancer prevention'.

This report, published on the first-ever Universal Health Coverage Day, highlights the current situation in relation to hospice and palliative care and UHC and makes recommendations for working towards the greater inclusion of palliative care within Universal Health Coverage policies and schemes.

The report is submitted in response to resolution WHA71.2 (2018), which “requests the Director-General to report to the Seventy-second World Health Assembly, through the Executive Board, on the outcomes of the third High-level Meeting of the General Assembly on the Prevention and Control of Non-communicable Diseases and its follow-up.

The report is submitted in response to resolution WHA71.2 (2018), which “requests the Director-General to report to the Seventy-second World Health Assembly, through the Executive Board, on the outcomes of the third High-level Meeting of the General Assembly on the Prevention and Control of Non-communicable Diseases and its follow-up.

The Medicines Patent Pool (MPP) conducted a feasibility study to assess the public health need for – and the feasibility and potential public health impact of – expanding its mandate from HIV, tuberculosis and hepatitis C to patented essential medicines in other therapeutic areas. This includes medicines for different type of cancers (e.g. prostate, lung, multiple myeloma), sexual and reproductive health (e.g. heat-stable carbetocin), multiple sclerosis, cardiovascular diseases (e.g. the direct oral anticoagulants) and several new antibiotics.

MPP developed this feasibility study after the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Lancet Commission on Essential Medicines Policies, recommended the expansion of the MPP’s patent pooling model to all patented essential medicines, such as those included on the WHO Model List of Essential Medicines.

Case studies compiled as part of the work of the NCD Child Taskforce on Essential Medicines and Equipment.

The WHO Model Lists of Essential Medicines has been updated every two years since 1977. The current versions are the 20^th WHO Essential Medicines List (EML) and the 6^thWHO Essential Medicines List for Children (EMLc) updated in March 2017.