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The article reports that the World Health Organization Expert Committee made a number of recommendations in the various specific areas of work in quality assurance discussed during its 39th meeting. The area covered by this Expert Committee are extensive and range from GMP, regulatory guidance texts, as well as the areas of counterfeit and substandard medicines. The Committee worked on the quality control specifications for those medicines used in the treatment of large populations for which international quality requirements are often not publicly available.

The article presents a summary of World Health Organization Expert Committee's considerations and justifications for deleting thioacetazone + isoniazid from its Model List of Essential Medicines. The Committee has recommended that thioacetazone + isoniazid be removed from the Model List because it does not fulfill the definition of a complementary product.

The article presents a summary of World Health Organization (WHO) Expert Committee's considerations and justifications for deleting cromoglycic acid from the WHO Model List of Essential Medicines. The Committee has recommended that cromoglycic acid be deleted from the Model List because of the availability of more effective and safer alternatives on the Model List.

The article presents a summary of World Health Organization Expert Committee's considerations and justifications for retaining spectinomycin on its Model List of Essential Medicines. The Committee has recommended that spectinomycin be retained on the Model List as an alternative to cepahlosporins in the treatment of gonorrhea and chancroid in adults.

The article presents a summary of World Health Organization Expert Committee's considerations and justifications for deleting silver nitrate eye solution from its Model List of Essential Medicines. The Committee has recommended that silver nitrate eye solution be deleted from the Model List because of inadequate evidence on the safety of the solution in the prevention of neonatal gonococcal conjunctivitis.

The article presents a summary of World Health Organization (WHO) Expert Committee's considerations and justifications for deleting polygeline from the WHO Model List of Essential Medicines. The Committee has recommended that dextran 70 should be retained on the Model List, with a square box to cover polygeline. The Committee has concluded that polygeline and dextran 70 are similar in safety and efficacy. However, dextran 70 has a lower price compared to polygeline.

The article presents a summary of World Health Organization (WHO) Expert Committee's considerations and justifications for changes to nifedipine on the WHO Model List of Essential Medicines. The Committee has recommended that sustained-release nifedipine be replaced with amlodipine (5mg tablet) with a square box as the representative long-acting dihydropyridine calcium channel blocker.

The article presents a summary of World Health Organization (WHO) Expert Committee's considerations and justifications for retaining factors VIII and IX concentrates on the WHO Model List of Essential Medicines. The Committee has recommended the retention of factors VIII and IX concentrates because of the inherent inconsistency caused by the fact that hemophilia is a rare disease.

The article presents a summary of World Health Organization (WHO) Expert Committee's considerations and justifications for deleting ether from the WHO Model List of Essential Medicines. The Committee has recommended that ether be deleted from the Model List because of its cumbersome storage and transport requirements and the availability of alternative fluorinated inhalational anesthetic agents.

The article presents a summary of World Health Organization (WHO) Expert Committee's considerations and justifications for deleting ergotamine from the WHO Model List of Essential Medicines. The Committee has recommended that ergotamine be deleted from the Model List because of lack of evidence of efficacy in the treatment of acute migraine attack and the availability of effective and safe alternatives.

The article presents a summary of World Health Organization (WHO) Expert Committee's considerations and justifications for changes to codeine on the WHO Model List of Essential Medicines. The Committee recommends that the heading of the section be changed to "Antidiarrheal (symptomatic) medicines for adults," and that codeine be retained on the list.

The article presents a summary of World Health Organization (WHO) Expert Committee's considerations and justifications for changes to calcium gluconate on the WHO Model List of Essential Medicines. The Committee recommends that calcium gluconate injection be retained in Section 4 for magnesium sulfate poisoning, and that the footnote on fast-track deletion be removed from Section 27.

The article presents a summary of the World Health Organization Expert Committee's considerations and justifications for deleting aminophylline and theophylline from its Model List of Essential Medicines. The Committee has noted that as aminophylline and theophylline have limited efficacy in comparison with the other bronchodilators, their relative toxicity becomes a major issue. The recommendation was made because of the availability of safer and more effective alternatives on the Model List.

The article reports on the World Health Organization Expert Committee's review of the New Emergency Health Kit 1998. Interagency meetings have been held and decisions have been made to change the name of the kit and to maintain the structure of 10 basic units and a single supplementary unit. It has been decided that kits should contain treatment for malaria and for the presumptive treatment of victims of sexual violence.

The article presents a summary of World Health Organization (WHO) Expert Committee's considerations and justifications for retaining procainamide on the WHO Model List of Essential Medicines. The Committee has recommended that procainamide be retained on the Model List because of the limited choice in antiarrhythmics available on the current Model List.

The article presents a summary of World Health Organization (WHO) Expert Committee's considerations and justifications for deleting colchicine from the WHO Model List of Essential Medicines. The Committee has recommended that cromoglycic acid be deleted from the Model List because of the availability of more effective and safer alternatives on the Model List.

The article presents a summary of World Health Organization Expert Committee's considerations and justifications for retaining triclabendazole from its Model List of Essential Medicines. The Committee has recommended that triclabendazole be retained on the Model List, as the medicine of choice for treatment of fascioliasis and paragonimiasis.

The article presents a summary of World Health Organization Expert Committee's considerations and justifications for deleting sun protection agents from its Model List of Essential Medicines. The Committee has recommended that sun protection agents be deleted from the Model List after noting that sunscreens are normally not provided by public facilities and that provision through such sources was not needed.

The article presents a summary of World Health Organization Expert Committee's considerations and justifications for retaining sodium fluoride on its Model List of Essential Medicines. The Committee has recommended that retain sodium fluoride because of the efficacy of topical fluoride formulations in preventing dental caries.

The article presents a summary of World Health Organization Expert Committee's considerations and justifications for retaining quinidine on its Model List of Essential Medicines. The Committee has recommended that quinidine be retained on the List due to the limited choices of anti-arrhythmics available on the current Model List.

The article presents a summary of World Health Organization Expert Committee's considerations and justifications for deleting salbutamol from its Model List of Essential Medicines. The Committee has recommended that salbutamol be deleted from the Model List because of inadequate evidence to support the efficacy of the medicine as a tocolytic agent.

The article presents a summary of World Health Organization (WHO) Expert Committee's considerations and justifications for retaining oxamniquine on the WHO Model List of Essential Medicines. The Committee has recommended that oxamniquine be maintained on the Model List for use in case of failure of treatment with praziquantel despite some of the comparative disadvantages mentioned in the report.

The article presents a summary of World Health Organization (WHO) Expert Committee's considerations and justifications for deleting nalidixic acid from the WHO Model List of Essential Medicines. The Committee has recommended that nalidixic acid be deleted from the Model List because of lack of evidence of efficacy in the treatment of urinary tract infections.

The article presents a summary of World Health Organization (WHO) Expert Committee's considerations and justifications for retaining medroxyprogesterone acetate (tablet 5mg) (MPA 5-mg) on the WHO Model List of Essential Medicines. The Committee has recommended that the medicine be retained on the Model List after a study suggests that only long-term use of MPA 5-mg may be associated with significant changes in bone mineral density.

The article presents a summary of World Health Organization (WHO) Expert Committee's considerations and justifications for retaining medroxyprogesterone acetate depot injection (DMPA) on the WHO Model List of Essential Medicines. The Committee has recommended that DMPA be retained on the Model List and moved from the complementary list to the core list as requested by the WHO Department of Reproductive Health and Research.

The article presents a summary of World Health Organization (WHO) Expert Committee's considerations and justifications for deleting isoprenaline from the WHO Model List of Essential Medicines. The Committee has recommended that isoprenaline be deleted from the Model List because of the lack of evidence to support its efficacy in the emergency treatment of bradycardia and the limited indications for its use.

The article presents a summary of World Health Organization (WHO) Expert Committee's considerations and justifications for retaining levofloxacin on the WHO Model List of Essential Medicines. The Committee has recommended that levofloxacin be retained as complementary medicine for the treatment of multi-drug resistant tuberculosis.

The article presents a summary of World Health Organization (WHO) Expert Committee's considerations and justifications for retaining imipenem + cilastin on the WHO Model List of Essential Medicines. The Committee has recommended that the drugs be retained on the complementary list for the treatment of life-threatening hospital-based infections due to suspected or proven multidrug-resistant infection.

The article presents a summary of World Health Organization (WHO) Expert Committee's considerations and justifications for deleting diethyltoluamide from the WHO Model List of Essential Medicines. The Committee has recommended that diethyltoluamide be deleted from the Model List because of inadequate evidence to establish the efficacy of the medicine in preventing malaria.

The article presents a summary of World Health Organization (WHO) Expert Committee's considerations and justifications for deleting atropine from the WHO Model List of Essential Medicines. The Committee recommends that atropine, as an antispasmodic, together with the whole section of antispasmodic medicines be deleted from the Model List because of lack of evidence of efficacy and safety.

The article reports on the World Health Organization (WHO) Expert Committee's review of essential medicines for reproductive health (RH). It discusses the overall objective of the Quality Medicines for Reproductive Health Project, which includes the efforts to improve access to essential reproductive health medicines and commodities. The article also reports on the documentation of the discrepancies in terminology and content of non-medicine items in existing RH lists.

The article reports on the selection of a two-year production cycle in view of the considerable time and resources needed to organize the World Health Organization (WHO) Expert Committee, produce the report and the Model List , and adapt and translate the "WHO model formulary." In 2005, the revision of the Model List was made, followed by the update of the "WHO model formulary," in 2006.

The article reports on the incorporation of the changes to the World Health Organization (WHO) Expert Committee's 13th Model List of 2003 into the second edition of the "WHO model formulary," which was issued in January 2004. It reveals that the WHO Medicines Library on the WHO Web site has been further developed. The article also reports on the availability of the "Medicines Bookshelf," CD-ROM.

The article reports on the World Health Organization (WHO) Expert Commitee's approval of the report of its 2003 meeting for publication by the Director-General and for posting on the WHO Web site within two weeks of the meeting. The full report was issued in the WHO Technical Report Series in 2004. The 13th Model List and the general introduction were posted on the WHO Web site.