In 2019, World Health Assembly Resolution WHA72(8) Improving the transparency of markets for medicines, vaccines, and other health products requested the WHO Director-General, among other requests, “to continue WHO’s efforts to biennially convene the Fair Pricing Forum with Member States and all relevant stakeholders to discuss the affordability and transparency of prices and costs relating to health products”.

The 2024 Forum will be held under this mandate to continue the tradition of encouraging rich dialogue among various stakeholders, following the first Forum in Amsterdam (The Netherlands) in 2017, the second Forum in Johannesburg (South Africa) in 2019, and the third Forum held virtually (co-hosted with Argentina) in 2021.

The Forum’s goal is to ensure that WHO Member States and stakeholders better understand existing approaches and emerging policies to address issues pertaining to market transparency and affordability of essential medicines and health products. The Forum also provides a platform for Member States and stakeholders to identify current and emerging health system challenges and to provide proposals to mitigate potential risks threatening optimal access to affordable health products and progress towards Universal Health Coverage.