WHO adds sunscreen to essential medicines list

Sunscreen sits on pharmacy shelves in some countries and behind locked counters in others. For people with albinism — whose skin produces little or no melanin — the difference between access and no access is not cosmetic. It is a question of cancer risk.

The World Health Organization has added sunscreen to its Model Lists of Essential Medicines and Essential Medicines for Children. The Independent Expert on the enjoyment of human rights by persons with albinism, Muluka-Anne Miti-Drummond, welcomed the decision alongside other UN human rights experts, describing it as a significant step toward reducing preventable harm.

What the listing means

The WHO Model Lists function as a global reference point. Governments, procurement agencies, and health ministries use them to shape national formularies and public health budgets. When a product appears on the list, according to the OHCHR statement, it signals that the medicine meets a threshold of safety, efficacy, and public health need — and that it should be available to all who require it, at a price communities can afford.

For people with albinism, the practical stakes are direct. Without adequate melanin, skin absorbs ultraviolet radiation at rates that make sun exposure a consistent medical risk. The Independent Expert's office has documented, over successive reports, that people with albinism in low- and middle-income countries face elevated rates of skin cancer — and that sunscreen, the most effective preventive tool, remains unaffordable or entirely unavailable in many of the regions where albinism prevalence is highest.

A finding years in the making

The call to list sunscreen as an essential medicine did not begin with this decision. Civil society organisations, dermatologists, and UN mandate holders had been raising the issue with the WHO Expert Committee for years, according to the OHCHR statement. The listing reflects that sustained pressure.

Muluka-Anne Miti-Drummond said the decision recognises that sun protection is inseparable from the right to health for people with albinism. The framing matters: essential medicine status shifts sunscreen from a consumer product into a healthcare entitlement — one that national health systems are now expected to consider when planning procurement.

The Independent Expert also noted that listing alone does not guarantee access. Implementation will depend on how individual governments respond, how supply chains are structured, and whether community health programmes include distribution to people who need it most.

The OHCHR statement described the decision as a foundation, not a finish line. Monitoring will be needed to track whether the listing translates into availability at the clinic and community level — particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa and parts of Latin America, where the need is most acute and the gaps have historically been widest.

A global classification, quietly made, now sets a standard that advocates can point to. What happens next depends on the systems that follow.