# WHO Essential Medicines List — Procurement Lookup API (`azureblue/who-essential-medicines-scraper`) Actor Scrape the WHO Essential Medicines List (667 medicines, 1400+ recommendations). Filter by name, category, or section. Returns medicine name, category, dosage forms, indications, and EML URL. - **URL**: https://apify.com/azureblue/who-essential-medicines-scraper.md - **Developed by:** [azureblue](https://apify.com/azureblue) (community) - **Categories:** Developer tools - **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, NaN bookmarks - **User rating**: No ratings yet ## Pricing $5.00 / 1,000 results This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events. Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/platform/actors/running/actors-in-store#pay-per-event ## What's an Apify Actor? Actors are a software tools running on the Apify platform, for all kinds of web data extraction and automation use cases. In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours, and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store. In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server. Actors are written with capital "A". ## How to integrate an Actor? If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects. You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready. The best way to integrate Actors is as follows. In JavaScript/TypeScript projects, use official [JavaScript/TypeScript client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js.md): ```bash npm install apify-client ``` In Python projects, use official [Python client library](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python.md): ```bash pip install apify-client ``` In shell scripts, use [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): ````bash # MacOS / Linux curl -fsSL https://apify.com/install-cli.sh | bash # Windows irm https://apify.com/install-cli.ps1 | iex ```bash In AI frameworks, you might use the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/mcp.md). If your project is in a different language, use the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md). For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below. For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt). # README ## WHO Essential Medicines List — Procurement Lookup API **Full structured export of the WHO Essential Medicines List — the global standard reference for medicines considered essential for basic healthcare. Filter by therapeutic category, name, or dosage form.** --- ### What this Actor does Data source: [WHO Electronic Essential Medicines List](https://list.essentialmeds.org/) — the official WHO eEML site. Edition 23 (2023), 667 medicines, 1418 recommendations. Output is one JSON record per result, conforming to the **`azureblue/medical-core` envelope** so you can join across our other actors on `sourceUrl` and `dataHash`. --- ### Use Cases #### 1. Global-health procurement planning An NGO planning a field hospital for cardiovascular care exports the entire EML category to spec their drug formulary. Output goes straight into procurement RFQs — **saves a 2-day manual research cycle per deployment**. #### 2. Medical-school curriculum design A pharmacy program rebuilds its essential-drugs syllabus around the latest EML. Bulk export becomes their LMS source-of-truth — **no manual reformatting** vs. parsing the WHO PDF. #### 3. Hospital formulary gap analysis A hospital pharmacy benchmarks current stock against the EML. Diff against their stock CSV identifies essential-drug gaps the procurement committee must close. --- ### Input ```json { "category": "Cardiovascular", "maxResults": 100 } ```` *** ### Output (sample item) ```json { "medicineName": "Atenolol", "category": "Cardiovascular > Beta-blockers", "dosageForm": "tablet (oral): 50 mg | 100 mg", "indications": "Hypertension, angina pectoris", "url": "https://list.essentialmeds.org/medicines/22" } ``` *** ### Pricing | Event | Price | When it fires | |---|---|---| | **Per result** | **$0.005** | Per scraped record pushed to the dataset | **Trial mode**: pass `mode: "trial"` to get 5 results free with no charges. Use it to evaluate output shape before subscribing. Pricing on this Actor will rise on **2026-06-17** in line with our [monetization tier upgrade](https://apify.com/azureblue). Subscribers active before then keep the current price. *** ### Compliance - **Public-data only** — every endpoint is the source's official public interface. No login walls, no PHI, no paywalled content. - **GDPR Art. 6(1)(f) / equivalent** — buyer is responsible for downstream use of the extracted data. - **Source attribution** — every dataset item includes `sourceUrl` linking back to the canonical source. *** ### Sister Actors — complementary coverage from `azureblue` - [`drug-interaction-checker`](https://apify.com/azureblue/drug-interaction-checker) - [`ema-drug-approval-scraper`](https://apify.com/azureblue/ema-drug-approval-scraper) - [`medical-device-recall-scraper`](https://apify.com/azureblue/medical-device-recall-scraper) *** ### Changelog See `CHANGELOG.md` in this Actor. # Actor input Schema ## `searchTerm` (type: `string`): Filter medicines by name, category, or dosage form. Leave empty to retrieve all 600+ medicines. ## `category` (type: `string`): Filter by EML section/category, e.g. 'Antiretrovirals', 'Cardiovascular', 'Analgesics'. ## `maxResults` (type: `integer`): Maximum number of medicines to return (1–2,000). The full WHO EML contains ~667 medicines. ## Actor input object example ```json { "searchTerm": "antibiotic", "category": "Cardiovascular", "maxResults": 200 } ``` # Actor output Schema ## `dataset` (type: `string`): Open the run's default dataset to view, filter and export the scraped items. # API You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup. ## JavaScript example ```javascript import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client'; // Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token // Replace the '' with your token const client = new ApifyClient({ token: '', }); // Prepare Actor input const input = {}; // Run the Actor and wait for it to finish const run = await client.actor("azureblue/who-essential-medicines-scraper").call(input); // Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any) console.log('Results from dataset'); console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`); const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems(); items.forEach((item) => { console.dir(item); }); // 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs ``` ## Python example ```python from apify_client import ApifyClient # Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token # Replace '' with your token. client = ApifyClient("") # Prepare the Actor input run_input = {} # Run the Actor and wait for it to finish run = client.actor("azureblue/who-essential-medicines-scraper").call(run_input=run_input) # Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any) print("💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/" + run["defaultDatasetId"]) for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items(): print(item) # 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start ``` ## CLI example ```bash echo '{}' | apify call azureblue/who-essential-medicines-scraper --silent --output-dataset ``` ## MCP server setup ```json { "mcpServers": { "apify": { "command": "npx", "args": [ "mcp-remote", "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=azureblue/who-essential-medicines-scraper", "--header", "Authorization: Bearer " ] } } } ``` ## OpenAPI specification ```json { "openapi": "3.0.1", "info": { "title": "WHO Essential Medicines List — Procurement Lookup API", "description": "Scrape the WHO Essential Medicines List (667 medicines, 1400+ recommendations). Filter by name, category, or section. Returns medicine name, category, dosage forms, indications, and EML URL.", "version": "1.0", "x-build-id": "risWVKIOlbl9EOUGc" }, "servers": [ { "url": "https://api.apify.com/v2" } ], "paths": { "/acts/azureblue~who-essential-medicines-scraper/run-sync-get-dataset-items": { "post": { "operationId": "run-sync-get-dataset-items-azureblue-who-essential-medicines-scraper", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for its completion, and returns Actor's dataset items in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK" } } } }, "/acts/azureblue~who-essential-medicines-scraper/runs": { "post": { "operationId": "runs-sync-azureblue-who-essential-medicines-scraper", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor and returns information about the initiated run in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK", "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/runsResponseSchema" } } } } } } }, "/acts/azureblue~who-essential-medicines-scraper/run-sync": { "post": { "operationId": "run-sync-azureblue-who-essential-medicines-scraper", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for completion, and returns the OUTPUT from Key-value store in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK" } } } } }, "components": { "schemas": { "inputSchema": { "type": "object", "properties": { "searchTerm": { "title": "Search Term", "type": "string", "description": "Filter medicines by name, category, or dosage form. Leave empty to retrieve all 600+ medicines." }, "category": { "title": "Section / Category Filter", "type": "string", "description": "Filter by EML section/category, e.g. 'Antiretrovirals', 'Cardiovascular', 'Analgesics'." }, "maxResults": { "title": "Maximum Results", "minimum": 1, "maximum": 2000, "type": "integer", "description": "Maximum number of medicines to return (1–2,000). The full WHO EML contains ~667 medicines.", "default": 200 } } }, "runsResponseSchema": { "type": "object", "properties": { "data": { "type": "object", "properties": { "id": { "type": "string" }, "actId": { "type": "string" }, "userId": { "type": "string" }, "startedAt": { "type": "string", "format": "date-time", "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z" }, "finishedAt": { "type": "string", "format": "date-time", "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z" }, "status": { "type": "string", "example": "READY" }, "meta": { "type": "object", "properties": { "origin": { "type": "string", "example": "API" }, "userAgent": { "type": "string" } } }, "stats": { "type": "object", "properties": { "inputBodyLen": { "type": "integer", "example": 2000 }, "rebootCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "restartCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "resurrectCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "computeUnits": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } }, "options": { "type": "object", "properties": { "build": { "type": "string", "example": "latest" }, "timeoutSecs": { "type": "integer", "example": 300 }, "memoryMbytes": { "type": "integer", "example": 1024 }, "diskMbytes": { "type": "integer", "example": 2048 } } }, "buildId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultKeyValueStoreId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultDatasetId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultRequestQueueId": { "type": "string" }, "buildNumber": { "type": "string", "example": "1.0.0" }, "containerUrl": { "type": "string" }, "usage": { "type": "object", "properties": { "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 1 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_SERPS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } }, "usageTotalUsd": { "type": "number", "example": 0.00005 }, "usageUsd": { "type": "object", "properties": { "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": { "type": "number", "example": 0.00005 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_SERPS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } } } } } } } } } ```