4% of the world’s population, people of all ages, are currently in need of humanitarian assistance. Most of those people live in the 85% of the world where the essential controlled medicines included in section 2 of the WHO Model List are routinely unavailable even before the emergency hits.
Establishing and monitoring secure supply chains and national stockpiles of essential medicines is a prerequisite for health emergency preparedness, response and resilience.
People affected by health emergencies frequently experience severe, untreated physical pain, often exacerbated by trauma, and psychological, social, and spiritual suffering. Health-related suffering affects military personnel and vulnerable civilians such as pregnant and nursing women, infants, older adults, persons with disabilities, and individuals of all ages with serious injuries or chronic illnesses.
Emergency teams should be trained in the safe use of these essential medicines, which all health systems must have at hand before the emergency. The pandemic stress tested medical stocks of even well-resourced health systems, as morphine and midazolam stockouts showed.
Member states can take steps to prevent acute suffering from lack of essential medicines by preemptively investing in
• Basic surgical and intensive care services with effective anaesthesia and medical oxygen
• Basic pain and palliative care services staffed by primary care practitioners and humanitarian health workers trained to treat severe pain from traumatic fractures, wounds, and burns
• Community based mental health services
• Sustainable cancer care
• Palliative care for acute conditions and chronic, non-communicable diseases,
• Maternal child health and essential medicines for pregnant women, mothers and newborns
We call the Board’s attention to the 2021 INCB, UNODC, WHO Joint Statement on Access to Controlled Medicines in Emergencies, the IPF's 'Role of pharmacists in disaster and emergency management', and the International Narcotics Control Board’s ?Timely Supply of Controlled Substances during Emergency Situations'.
We recommend that Member States and WHO emergency response teams:
• Include adequate supplies of oral and injectable essential medicines in formulations appropriate for people of all ages in humanitarian and NCD response packages.
• Prepare health workforce and emergency response teams to prescribe and administer essential medicines, including opioids