It developed a system and methodology for measuring the price, availability and affordability of medicines.
It also created guidance for low-and-middle-income countries to help their governments and associated health organisations to implement policies on drug prices.
The quality of the international reference price depends on the number of suppliers quoting for that product.
[2] The World Health Organization and Health Action International (WHO/HAI) made a conjoint effort to systematize the methodology of medicine price surveys and ERP usage, first publishing the WHO/HAI methodology in manual in 2003,[3]: 195 which is frequently used in price studies in unregulated prices context often found in low and moderate income countries (LMICs),[2][4]: 257 but it was also used in high-income countries.
[3]: 189 This methodology advises that the same provider of international reference unit price "must be used for all medicines surveyed – global, regional and supplementary", to ensure a consistent basis for comparison,[2]: 38 such as the International Medical Products Price Guide.
[4] The International Medical Products Price Guide usually does not include insurance or transportation charges.
[5]: 220 The choice of the database(s) to use is also crucial and should not be solely made on considerations of availability, although this is an important factor.
[5]: 223 The same methodology can be applied to evaluate medicines availability, compared to a basket of reference countries.