Updated as of 15 September 2025
The World Health Organization (WHO) convened the 5th Global Forum on Medical Devices in Geneva through a virtual format to promote broad participation. Medical devices—used across all levels of healthcare for screening, diagnosis, treatment, palliation, and assistance—remain inaccessible, unsafe, or unaffordable for many patients worldwide. While progress has been made, significant challenges persist.
The Forum brought together diverse stakeholders to exchange knowledge and explore strategies to improve access to medical technologies and enhance patient care. Discussions addressed emerging global challenges, including the Sustainable Development Goals, climate change, scientific and technological advancements, and the growing frequency of crises and emergencies, as outlined in WHO’s 14th Global Programme of Work.
Previous Forums were held in Bangkok (2010), Geneva (2013 and 2017), and Visakhapatnam, India (2018), serving as platforms to align medical device priorities with global health needs.
The 5th Forum welcomed 1,795 participants from 130 Member States and featured 119 panelists across 15 main sessions and five side events. A comprehensive report detailing session highlights, statistics, and participant lists will be published by October 2025.
Objectives of the Forum
- To define methods of increasing access to essential and priority medical devices under Universal Health Coverage in compliance with the Sustainable Development Goals
- To share country evidence of best practices in regulating, assessing and managing medical devices
- To demonstrate the development and use of innovative, appropriate, affordable technologies to respond to global health priorities
- To share WHO tools and guidelines on medical devices for better implementation
Presentations of the Forum
Monday, 2 June 2025
- Importance of medical devices to promote, protect and provide health
- Priority medical devices
- Policies for medical devices supporting patient safety and quality of care
- Diagnostic medical devices
- Therapeutic medical devices
Tuesday, 3 June 2025
- Nomenclature of medical devices
- Regulations of medical devices
- Health technology assessment of medical devices
- Health technology management
- Assessing Innovative health technologies for low-resource settings
Wednesday, 4 June 2025
- Sustainable supply of medical devices
- Human resources for medical devices
- Medical devices for emergencies
- AI for medical devices
Side events presentations
Friday, 5 June 2025
- Side Event 1- The role of NSAs in official relations with WHO in implementing the WHA resolution on Strengthening medical imaging capacity
- Side Event 2 - Strategies to improve access to in vitro diagnostics
- Side Event 3 - Reliance on medical devices regulation
- Side Event 4 - Lancet Global Health Commission on Medical Oxygen Security
- Side Event 5 - Ensuring health and safety in the use of radiation-based medical devices
Meeting recordings are available upon request.
Contact us at: global-forum-med-dev@who.int