On World Children's Day, the Global Accelerator for Paediatric Formulations Network (GAP-f) is renewing its call to action for improved access to essential and age-appropriate medicines for children.
Children remain among the most vulnerable populations in global health, and millions of children – particularly in low-resource settings – continue to face barriers to receiving the medicines they need due to persistent gaps in research, enabling policies, and timely investments.
On the margins of the 77th World Health Assembly (WHA) earlier this year, GAP-f launched its Strategic Roadmap 2025–2030 , which sets out a vision to address the paediatric medicines gap. The strategy identifies three shifts that will guide the network's next phase:
- expanding the disease focus to include conditions such as respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), malaria, sickle cell disease, dengue, and epilepsy;
- strengthening country and regional engagement to build national paediatric medicines ecosystems; and
- driving innovation by promoting novel formulation technologies and smarter clinical development pathways.
These shifts aim to catalyze a more equitable and sustainable response to children's medicine needs by bridging science, policy and delivery to ensure no child is left behind.
This year, GAP-f also achieved several milestones in partnership with WHO technical departments and network members that are outlined below.
Priority formulations across multiple therapeutic areas are now defined
Building on its established Paediatric Drug Optimization (PADO) process , WHO and GAP-f partners have successfully completed a series of prioritization exercises covering respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) , malaria, epilepsy , dengue, and sickle cell disease. These therapeutic areas form part of GAP-f's strategic roadmap, identified through transparent prioritization principles that guide the network's disease focus.
The PADO exercises represent a cornerstone of GAP-f's evidence-driven approach, defining priority product needs for children, guiding research and development investments, and aligning partners around formulations that address the most urgent gaps in paediatric treatment. "The PADO-Epilepsy report charts a shared path to accelerate access to child-friendly medicines for the treatment of epilepsy. By aligning funders, developers, regulators, and procurement partners around clear priorities, the PADO report will be key to translating science into access to paediatric antiseizure medicines", noted Dévora Kestel, Director a.i., Noncommunicable Diseases and Mental Health Department.
Advancing target product profiles for paediatric medicines
WHO has released six new target product profiles for child-friendly formulations of essential cancer medicines. These provide pharmaceutical manufacturers with a clear, technical roadmap to develop much-needed, optimized versions of the medicines specifically designed for use in children worldwide.
The TPPs were developed through a standard WHO procedure including an expert consultation held virtually in December 2024, leveraging expertise of partners and global experts in the GAP-f Network. The new TPPs will set the basis for potential future inclusion of these formulations in WHO's Prequalification Expression of Interest list and, eventually, in the Model List of Essential Medicines for Children once new formulations are available.
This most recent release follows the launch of 2 target product profiles for antibiotics, nitrofurantoin and azithromycin, that add to the set of guidance for manufacturers to contribute to wide access to priority antibiotics to treat bacterial infections in children.
WHO Model List of Essential Medicines for Children is now optimized for age appropriateness
Over the past four years, under the collaborative framework of the Global Accelerator for Paediatric Formulations (GAP-f), WHO conducted a comprehensive review of formulations included in the Essential Medicines List for Children (EMLc) to inform both the 9th and most recently the 10th update of the Model List of Essential Medicines for Children .
The review assessed perceived needs and formulation gaps among health-care workers globally, analyzed the current market landscape for child-appropriate medicines, and evaluated therapeutic suitability across treatment areas. This process led to substantial updates to the EMLc, including the addition of 163 new formulations, removal of 92 outdated formulations, and other modifications adopted in the 2023 and 2025 editions. Findings from the report can be found here . The work also identified 79 medicines with gaps in age-appropriate formulations, providing a clear evidence base for WHO and partners to prioritize through the Paediatric Drug Optimization (PADO) exercises and related initiatives. These efforts ensure that the EMLc remains the most authoritative global reference for countries and procurement agencies, aligning national formularies and supply decisions with the latest, most suitable options for children.
Efforts are now underway at WHO to monitor the uptake of the EMLc and to support countries, starting in the South-East Asia region, in identifying national and regional solutions to strengthen their paediatric medicines ecosystem and ensure broad access to age-appropriate formulations for children.
About the GAP-f network
Hosted by WHO, the GAP-f network brings together over 30 partners across industry, academia, civil society and global health institutions. Together, the network continues to remove barriers to developing and delivering appropriate, quality, affordable and accessible medicines for children worldwide. As we commemorate World Children's Day, GAP-f calls on all partners to continue working together towards a shared goal – better medicines for every child, everywhere.
