While access to new essential medicines in Africa continues to increase, a lack of proper monitoring and promotion of safe, good quality, and effective medication is also on the rise. With such weak pharmacovigilance systems, adverse drug reactions, poor product quality and medication errors become a hazard to health care systems.
During three days in April, the 2012 Pharmacovigilance Meeting, which was hosted by the Ministry of Health, Kenya; the Pharmacy and Poisons Board; SIAPS Program; and the USAID-funded Health Commodities and Services Management (HCSM) Program brought together partners from the African Regulatory Authorities, WHO, BMGF, EMA, CDC, FDA, USAID, and other key stakeholders to disseminate study findings of pharmacovigilance systems and performance in sub-Saharan Africa and facilitate a dialogue around common needs and opportunities.
The meeting was held in Nairobi, Kenya from April 18-20 and included a one-day launch of the study publication, Safety of Medicines in Sub-Saharan Africa: Assessment of Pharmacovigilance Systems and their Performance, followed by a two-day intensive workshop where countries shared their current practices and collectively identified operational tools and guidelines needed to implement pharmacovigilance activities with a systems perspective.
The full agenda and presentations can be found here.
Learn more about what SIAPS is doing in pharmacovigilance.
