Data and statistics

The Twentieth World Health Assembly passed resolution WHA28.66 in 1967, which mandated WHO to assist Member States in formulating national medicine policies and to help countries implement pharmaceutical strategies for the selection of essential drugs, appropriate procurement of quality drugs and training in various elements of pharmaceutical programmes.

In 1985, at the conference of experts in Nairobi, Kenya, WHO was requested to provide information on the pharmaceutical situation at the global and national levels, which is crucial for informing medicines policy and advocacy work.

These events provided the basis for the development of systems and tools to collect and publish pharmaceutical data on a regular basis. The first WHO world drug situation report was published in 1988, and updates followed in 2004 and 2011.

Data collected mainly annually and at other intervals are analysed and disseminated through all the stakeholders to add value to global data.

Within global data collection, the latest call within the pharmaceutical sector country profiles project finished in 2013.

Additionally WHO collaborates with various stakeholders to support Member States in the collection, analysis and use of pharmaceutical sector data.