Medicines safety challenges vary greatly across the globe, and there is rarely a one-size-fits-all solution. We aim to build a diverse network of participants from around the world, each sharing their unique experiences and perspectives. By coming together as a global community, we can learn from one another and strengthen pharmacovigilance capacity where it is needed most.
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Assessing the safety of a medical intervention is challenging. What's more, the difficulties faced in pharmacovigilance in any setting (such as underreporting of adverse events and poor awareness of pharmacovigilance systems) are further exacerbated in low resource settings. These challenges include limited infrastructure and financial resources, human resource constraints, weak regulatory systems, lack of collaboration and 'data silos', diverse cultural and social factors, and poor access to training and education opportunities. Whilst many high-quality resources are available to help you combat these issues, they may be difficult to find or inappropriate for use in your context. Launched in May 2016, Global Pharmacovigilance brings together useful resources for researchers, students, healthcare professionals, programme managers, industry professionals and medicines regulators – anyone who faces the challenge of collecting, managing and reporting safety data, sometimes under very challenging circumstances. We aim to host or link to high-quality, open access learning materials to help you tackle some of these challenges. Most importantly, we aim to create a global network for knowledge-sharing where medicines safety issues can be discussed, questions posed, and success shared. Importantly, we recognise the broad scope of pharmacovigilance, and are committed to fostering learning and research on the safety of all medical interventions, including vaccines, biologics, medical devices, traditional and herbal medicines and blood products. Global Pharmacovigilance was initially established with seed-funding from the ACT Consortium, which was funded through a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. As the ACT Consortium set out collecting data relating to the safety of Artemisinin-based Combination Therapy (used to treat malaria), they developed a library of tools and systems that could be useful in a variety of settings and for a variety of different drugs. Since its establishment, the platform has continued to grow, and thanks to its collaboration with The Global Health Network, has evolved into a sophisticated digital platform to share those tools and other relevant resources with a global network of those interested in pharmacovigilance. As of 2024, Global Pharmacovigilance is not currently receiving funding from external sources, and is coordinated on a voluntary basis from the University of Birmingham School of Pharmacy, UK. For this platform to be a success, we need to hear from you! Sign up and explore the platform to discover how to engage with the network. Please don't hesitate to get in touch if you have something to share, or would like to see something in particular. We will aim to support all requests and suggestions. Dr Ryan Walker Global Pharmacovigilance Co-ordinator |