UNDP first drew attention to the utility of competition law in health care as a tool to facilitate and promote access to health technologies in 2014. It published ‘Using Competition Law to Promote Access to Health Technologies: A guidebook for low- and middle-income countries’ (the Guidebook), with the aim of promoting greater understanding of competition law and providing practical guidance on its use to increase access to affordable health technologies in low- and middle-income countries. 

This 2022 Supplement aims at providing an update on competition law and policy developments since the publication of the Guidebook. While the Guidebook introduced the policies and approaches that inform competition law, the Supplement describes how competition law and policy have been used to improve access to health technologies, particularly through recent examples, including during the COVID-19 pandemic. Competition law and policy can contribute to improving health, well-being and inclusive economic growth consistent with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.