Medical Devices

Universal health coverage depends on affordable access to safe, effective and quality medical products, including medical devices and diagnostics. Diagnostic devices, including in vitro diagnostics (IVDs) and imaging devices are a key driver of patient, financial and health systems impact, and a critical enabler of universal health coverage. But diagnosis is also the weakest link in the care cascade. 

Antimicrobial resistance is a global health and development threat, with misuse and overuse of antimicrobials being main drivers in the development of drug-resistant pathogens. However, appropriate use of antibiotics requires correct diagnoses, which depend on access to diagnostic technologies. Without diagnostics, medicine is blind. 

Medical devices are used by laypersons at home, by paramedical staff and clinicians in remote clinics, by opticians and dentists and by health-care professionals in advanced medical facilities. Medical devices are used for prevention and screening, treatment, rehabilitation, and palliative care. Medical devices are used to diagnose illness, to enable treatment of illnesses and injuries, to monitor treatments, to assist people with disabilities, and to protect health care workers and patients. 

Ensuring that safe, effective and quality medical devices and diagnostics are available and affordable for primary care depends on policy decisions and processes related to the selection, pricing, procurement, supply chain management, maintenance, and use of these devices.