









































1 J Global Clinical Engineering Vol.2 Issue 1, 2019

Welcome to the initiation of a new column in our Global Clinical Engineering Journal that will 
serve the readership as additional information source of international health technology inter-

est, as opportunity to exchange comment and collect your feedback, and promote stronger engagement 
with WHO representative members.

This new added feature will be directed under the expertise of Adriana Velazquez Berumen, Senior 
advisor on medical devices, Department of Essential Medicines and Health Products, at the World 
Health Organization in Geneva, Switzerland (url: www.who.int/medical_devices/en/ and e-mail: 
velazquezberumena@who.int). Your feedback and promotion and sharing of the information posted 
in this column are welcome.

At a press conference at the United Nations in Geneva, on July 9, 2019,  WHO launched the 2nd WHO 
Model List of Essential In Vitro Diagnostics (EDL) and  the application for the 3rd EDL List has opened. 
(https://www.who.int/medical_devices/publications/Second_WHO_Model_List_of_Essential_In_Vi-
tro_Diagnostics/en/). The objective of the EDL is to increase access, affordability, availability of these 
tests globally, to support universal health coverage and better health for all. It includes laboratory tests 
as well as point of care and the objective is that countries will refer to WHO lists and updated their 
national reference lists for public procurement or reimbursement. 

 The process to select these diagnostics included:   assess  the tests submitted for the 2nd EDL, ,series 
of consultations, including public comments and final review, analysis and discussion by Members of 
Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on In Vitro Diagnostics (SAGE IVD) and WHO staff . 

The full report of the process will present a description of the methodologies, reviews, evidence, 
references and recommendations of the SAGE IVD members and will be published in September 2019 
as part of WHO Technical Report Series. and will be found at:  https://www.who.int/medical_devices/
diagnostics/selection_in-vitro/en/. 

You may find of interest the exciting update about Health Product Profile Directory https://www.
who.int/tdr/diseases-topics/product-directory/en/ a free-to-use online resource created and devel-
oped by TDR (Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases) on behalf of WHO as 
a global public good to improve the efficiency of efforts to develop new products for neglected diseases 
and populations as well as threats to global health. It provides a searchable database of the 8-10 key 
characteristics used to describe desired health products, including medicines, vaccines, diagnostics 
and medical equipment. Links are provided to access the full Product Profile document where this is 
publicly available. The Directory was launched in May 2019 and will be continuously updated. You are 
encouraged to visit the website provided.

WHO Update Column

http://www.globalce.org
http://www.globalce.org
www.who.int/medical_devices/en
mailto:velazquezberumena%40who.int?subject=
https://www.who.int/medical_devices/publications/Second_WHO_Model_List_of_Essential_In_Vitro_Diagnostics/en
https://www.who.int/medical_devices/publications/Second_WHO_Model_List_of_Essential_In_Vitro_Diagnostics/en
https://www.who.int/medical_devices/diagnostics/selection_in-vitro/en
https://www.who.int/medical_devices/diagnostics/selection_in-vitro/en
https://www.who.int/tdr/diseases-topics/product-directory/en
https://www.who.int/tdr/diseases-topics/product-directory/en
https://www.who.int/tdr/about/en/


J Global Clinical Engineering Vol.2 Issue 1, 2019  2

Finally, I would also like to share with you additional highlights from the July 2019 WHO Medical 
Devices Newsletter that describe career opportunities at WHO.  In particular, a full time Technical Offi-
cer position is open (Position 1902257) where you can find additional information about it such as job 
description and how to apply as well as about more opportunities at https://careers.who.int/career-
section/ex/jobdetail.ftl?job=1902257&tz=GMT%2B02%3A00&tzname=Europe%2FBerlin.

I am delighted with this opportunity to connected with you and to create a new platform for increas-
ing knowledge about and communication between stake holders with interest in health technologies.

Respectfully,

Adriana

Copyright © 2021. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY): Creative Commons - 
Attribution 4.0 International - CC BY 4.0. The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright 
owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or repro-
duction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

http://www.globalce.org
http://www.globalce.org
https://careers.who.int/careersection/ex/jobdetail.ftl?job=1902257&tz=GMT%2B02%3A00&tzname=Europe%2FBerlin.
https://careers.who.int/careersection/ex/jobdetail.ftl?job=1902257&tz=GMT%2B02%3A00&tzname=Europe%2FBerlin.

