WHO launched its first-ever Priority assistive products list (APL) in 2016, the first step of WHO’s GATE initiative towards improving global access to assistive products for everyone, everywhere. The Priority assistive products list includes hearing aids, wheelchairs, communication aids, spectacles, artificial limbs, pill organizers, memory aids, and other essential items for many older people and people with disability to be able to live a healthy, productive, and dignified life.

The APL follows in the footsteps of the WHO Model List of Essential Medicines, which is a powerful tool to create public awareness, mobilize resources, and stimulate competition in the market. The APL is similarly intended to be a catalyst in promoting access to assistive products.

It is not a restrictive list but aims to provide each Member State with a model from which to develop a National list of assistive products. A National list may then be used to guide other policy development related to assistive technology, including health coverage schemes and reimbursement.

WHO estimates that today 2.5 billion people need one or more assistive products. With a global ageing population and a rise in noncommunicable diseases, this number will rise beyond 3.5 billion by 2050, with many older people needing two or more products as they age.

However, in some settings, access to assistive products can be as low as 3%. This results in many missed opportunities for people to participate in society – for people to access education and work, and for older people to continue to live healthy, independent lives in their own homes. Access to assistive technology offers a public health solution to meet the needs of 21st-century populations.

The Priority assistive products list is part of a suite of tools developed by WHO, to increase access to high-quality affordable assistive products as an integral component of universal health coverage.

WHO is planning to develop a second edition of the APL, taking into account advances in technology, new knowledge and evidence, innovative solutions, and the upcoming WHO-UNICEF Global report on assistive technology.