Misoprostol Added to WHO EML Core List for Prevention of PPH
08/05/2011
Subsequent to the 18th Expert Committee on the Selection and Use of Essential Medicines held in Accra, Ghana in March 2011, misoprostol was added to the World Health Organization’s Model List of Essential Medicines for the prevention of postpartum hemorrhage. The application was submitted jointly by Gynuity Health Projects and Venture Strategies Innovations. The Expert Committee published its results which “add misoprostol to the [Essential Medicines] List, for the prevention of PPH in settings where parenteral uterotonics are not available or feasible.” Additionally the committee moved the drug from the complementary to the core list of essential medicines, confirming its importance for women’s health. The committee’s report cited a recently completed study from Pakistan (Mobeen et al. 2011) demonstrating that “there may be a benefit from use of misoprostol by traditional birth attendants or assistants trained on the use of the product at home deliveries.” The unedited draft report is available on the WHO website.