“An accurate diagnosis is the first step to getting effective treatment,” says Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO director-general.
“No one should suffer or die because of a lack of diagnostic services, or because the right tests were not available.”
The Essential Diagnostic Lists targets common diseases as well as a number of global priority diseases.
It concentrates on in vitro tests—tests of human specimens like blood and urine. EDL also contains 113 products: 58 tests are listed for detection and diagnosis of a wide range of common conditions, providing an essential package that can form the basis for screening and management of patients.
The remaining 55 tests are designed for the detection, diagnosis and monitoring of “priority” diseases such as HIV, tuberculosis, malaria, hepatitis B and C, human papillomavirus and syphilis.
The list comes amidst growing concern that many people are unable to get tested for disease because they cannot access diagnostic service. Many are incorrectly diagnosed and either do not receive the treatment they need or receive the wrong treatment.
Nearly one in two adults with Type 2 diabetes around the global are undiagnosed, risking serious health complications and higher health costs, WHO estimates.
Late diagnosis of infectious diseases such as HIV and tuberculosis increases the risk of spread and makes them more difficult to treat.
Primary health care-suitable
Some of the tests particularly target low-resource settings such as primary health care facilities where laboratory testing is often inadequate or absent.
In such settings, rapid diagnostic kits can detect malaria and glucometers can test for diabetes.
Other tests are more sophisticated and therefore intended for larger medical facilities—from district to regional and onto to national reference labs.
“Our aim is to provide a tool that can be useful to all countries, to test and treat better, but also to use health funds more efficiently by concentrating on the truly essential tests,” says Mariângela Simão, WHO assistant director-general for access to medicines, vaccines and pharmaceuticals.
“Our other goal is to signal to countries and developers that the tests in the list must be of good quality, safe and affordable.”
For each category of test, the Essential Diagnostics List specifies the type of test and intended use, format, and if appropriate for primary health care or for health facilities with laboratories.
The list also provides links to WHO Guidelines or publications and, when available, to prequalified products.
The list, similar to the four-decades-old Essential Medicines Lists, is intended to serve as a reference for countries to update or develop their own list of essential tests.
In order to truly benefit patients, national governments will need to ensure appropriate and quality-assured supplies, training of health care workers and safe use. To that end, WHO will provide support to countries as they adapt the list to the local context.