The WHO Essential Medicines List (EML) identifies priority medicines on the basis of a rigorous review of their benefits, harms, affordability, availability, and feasibility of delivery. The EML serves as a valuable tool for policy makers of member states to optimize country-level selection of medicines and to ensure access to these drugs in the context of universal health coverage (UHC). The EML can guide the procurement of medicines, favoring competition among treatments with overlapping benefits, and is the basis of the WHO Prequalification Programme and the Medicines Patent Pool.