WHO compendium of innovative health technologies for low-resource settings 2022

Access to innovations in health technologies is one of the pillars of the Universal Health Coverage (UHC) strategy. Health innovation aims to develop and deliver new or enhanced health policies, systems, products, technologies, services, and delivery methods to improve people’s health. Medical devices, oxygen sources, and personal protective equipment (among others) are all health technologies that have the potential to improve quality of life and health outcomes. However, access to high quality, safe, appropriate, and affordable health technology is not equitable, with the situation being most severe in low resource settings. Furthermore, the COVID-19 pandemic has heightened the need for new and innovative health technologies, especially in low-resource settings. Therefore, a timely and evidence-based assessments forsuchemerging technologiesisa pressing need. The first Compendium of innovative technologies was published in 2011. Since then, WHO has been regularly publishing new volumes of the Compendium. For the volumes in 2021 and 2022 the Compendium focused on identifying health technologies that support the COVID-19 response and other health priorities.

The objective of the 2022 Compendium is to compile and highlight emerging innovative health technologies for low-resource settings. It presents a snapshot of technologies that are solutions to an unmet medical/health technology need or are likely to improve health outcomes and the quality of life. Health technologies in the Compendium underwent WHO rapid evidence-based assessments focused on the life cycle of health technology innovations for low-resource settings. The evaluation included:

• clinical assessment
• WHO specification comparison
• regulatory assessment
• technology evidence assessment
• health technology and engineering management assessment
• intellectual property and local production

The process for selecting health technologies for the Compendium is based on a multidisciplinary assessment methodology. It begins with a call for submission, which undergoes an initial review for completeness. Based on the material and evidence submitted by the applicant, assessments were conducted followed by synthesis of the findings, deliberation and selection of technologies to be included in the Compendium.

The submission and screening process to eliminate technologies that do not fulfil the basic criteria for health technologies, the assessment method for ranking technologies, and the review of the results are continuously being monitored and improved.

The WHO Compendium of innovative technologies for low-resource settings – 2022 presents manufacturer-reported information and WHO assessment results of fifteen health technologies. Health technologies were classified as either commercially available (seven technologies) or prototypes (eight technologies). Each technology in the Compendium is presented in three pages summarizing the product specifications provided by the developers, the synthesis of all WHO assessments, and related WHO guidance material.

The Compendium sheds light on advantages and challenges associated with implementing innovative health technologies in low-resource settings and can be used by governments, NGOs and other stakeholders to support procurement decisions. It also aims to foster greater collaboration between ministries of health, procurement officers, donors, technology developers, manufacturers, clinicians, academics, and the public to ensure increased investment in appropriate health technology and a move toward universal access to essential health technologies.