NAIROBI, Kenya, Dec 7 – At least 17,000 adverse drug reactions have been reported to the Pharmacy and Poisons Board (PPB) since 2011.
Chief Executive Officer Fred Siyoi who was speaking during the Pharmacovigilance (PV) / Post-marketing Surveillance (PMS) Stakeholders Virtual Forum, said there is need to enhance pharmaco-vigilance to include medical supplies and laboratory supplies.
“The world is changing. We have to keep changing and engaging to learn from others and work together especially on issues of new vaccines and drugs coming in, said Dr. Siyoi.
He further warned that monitoring the quality, safety, and efficacy of hormone pregnancy tests (HPTs) is critical in the detection and prevention of substandard or falsified products and management of adverse events associated with medical products including protecting the safety and public health.
The Ministry of Health affirmed that it will continue to oversee governance and coordination of all activities, said Dr. Tom Menge Head, HPTs at the Ministry of Health (MoH)
Pharmacy and Poisons Board has in the meantime established robust pharmacovigilance and post-marketing surveillance system.
“PPB has acquired 11 mini-labs, useful in monitoring anti-malarial and other categories of medicines,” said Dr Martha Mandalethe of the Product Safety Department.
More than 100 personnel have been trained on the minilab screening techniques, both from the national and county governments, constituting a pool of experts for monitoring of the quality of medicines in the country.
One of the components of the system include the Pharmacovigilance Electronic Reporting System (PvERS) that provides a platform to both members of the public and healthcare professionals to report suspected adverse events and suspected poor quality medical products.
PPB together with development partners conducted several PMS activities including surveys on: reproductive health products, antidiabetics, antimicrobial agents, ARVs, anti TBs.
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