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Initial content for www.globalpharmacovigilance.org was based on the website coordinators’ own ideas, and has been focused on:
- Consolidating pharmacovigilance (PV)-related content already on the wider Global Health Network (www.tghn.org)
- Linking to external training resources, societies, other special interest groups, and events
- Developing original articles on pertinent topics
- Providing a fora for members to debate the successes and challenges in assessing harm in a variety of contexts
- Developing a growing bank of in-house free e-Learning courses
In order to be responsive to the user-base going forward we conducted a survey during the second half of 2016 to understand from them any particular challenges they encounter in performing their PV-related role, where they obtain PV information and tools from (e.g. as regards methods, data collection forms, Standard Operating Procedures), and what information or additional resources they would like to see on the site. Preliminary findings were presented at ASTMH 2016, with final findings presented below.[i]
There were 30 participants from 20 countries (13 African, 1 US, 2 European, 2 South East Asian, Australia, and India). Roles included several pharmacists, academic and laboratory staff, medical doctors, a nurse, PV consultant, clinical research staff, and a Senior VP (industry). A summary of the responses is given in Figure 1.
Figure 1: Feedback from survey respondents
We will now use this information to shape the website going forward, repeating the survey periodically so that content contributes to improving the practice of safety evaluations in resource-poor settings. By engaging the community in this way we hope this contribution to global drug safety will develop iteratively in a cost-effective way.
[i] The ACT Consortium and the Global Health Network: collaborating to provide an online, open-access, comprehensive pharmacovigilance resource for those working in tropical infectious diseases and global health. Allen E , Pace C , van Loggerenberg F , Furtado T , Schellenberg D, Lalloo D , Barnes K , Hopkins H , Staedke S , Chandler C , Vestergaard L , Terlouw A, Lang T