The World Health Organization Package of Essential Noncommunicable Disease Interventions (WHO PEN) is implemented in local clinics and health centres in Fiji. A nurse is measuring blood pressure and blood glucose levels on a person.
Diagnostics
Diagnostics are the most important tools that empower the health workforce in the identification of diseases or health conditions. They allow the initiation of treatments in order to avoid further complications and costly treatments for patients.
Diagnostic services are vital for the prevention, screening, diagnosis, case management, monitoring and treatment or surveillance of communicable, noncommunicable, neglected tropical and rare diseases, injuries and disabilities. Therefore, equitable access to safe, effective and quality assured diagnostics requires a comprehensive health-systems approach that addresses all stages of the access value chain.
The term diagnostics includes medical devices, techniques and procedures used for in vitro and in vivo determination of physiological status or presence and characteristics of a disease. Examples of in vitro diagnostics include laboratory tests (such as blood or urine tests); in vivo diagnostics include imaging tests (such as chest radiography, mammography or pelvic ultrasound) and other type of tests such as thermometer, electrocardiogram, pulse oximeters, endoscopes or blood pressure measurement devices. The simplest ones can be self-used, such as pregnancy tests, while others require important infrastructure and a specialized health workforce, like CT scanners.
Diagnostics are important to ensure quality, comprehensive and integrated primary health care and health services everywhere and for everyone. Every medical decision depends on a proper diagnosis, and while diagnostics results influence approximately 70% of healthcare decisions, only 3–5% of healthcare budgets go to diagnostic services. Thus, greater availability and improved access to diagnostics contribute towards health systems strengthening and universal health coverage.
Diagnostics contribute to the identification, detection and characterization of infectious and noncommunicable diseases. They also contribute to the monitoring of the burden of diseases as they can be used to collect data for informing public health interventions.
Diagnostics are fundamental for identification of pathogens and successful outbreak containment and control strategies. They are the first line of defence against emerging pathogens and the possibility of the re-emergence of eradicated diseases.
Diagnostics can be used in clinical studies to develop guidance for clinical care of patients and to monitor the efficacy and effectiveness of medical countermeasures such as treatments or vaccines.
WHO works with Member States, collaborating centres, partners and expert groups to develop and revise guidelines and tools, including norms and standards of all types of diagnostics (in vitro and in vivo).
WHO selects priority medical devices required for multiple diseases and health conditions. WHO promotes the Essential in vitro diagnostic list and the Priority medical devices list to assist Member States in developing their own national lists, and to support their access and availability.
WHO supports Member States in establishing mechanisms to assess national needs for health technologies, in particular medical devices used to screen, diagnose and monitor diseases and health conditions to assure their availability and use, particularly in low-resource settings.
The Organization also support the strengthening of national laboratory systems to deliver timely, safe, and reliable diagnostic test results. This includes plans and frameworks for the provision of laboratory based diagnostic services, laboratory workforce and network development, and optimization of laboratory operations.
The Organization assists Member States in addressing access barriers, strengthening regulatory capabilities, and promoting evidence-based decision-making and rational use of health technologies including diagnostics. Furthermore, the Organization leads efforts in innovation and increasing regional capacity in the research and development of priority health products.