National pharmacovigilance programs in Arab countries: A quantitative assessment study.

PURPOSES

The aim of the pharmacovigilance (PV) process is to bring together all the much-needed information about various aspects of product safety or, in particular, the safety and vigilance of drugs as pharmaceutical products. This study aimed to investigate and provide an overview on the current situation and activities of the national PV centers in Arab countries.

METHODS

A cross sectional study was conducted between March and May in 2018. The current survey was adopted and modified from a study that used the questionnaire designed by the World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for International Drug Monitoring. The national PV centers of 22 Arab countries were invited to participate in this study. Descriptive analyses were conducted utilizing the analysis services provided by SurveyMonkey.

RESULTS

In total of, 15 countries responded to our invitation (response rate: 68%). Most Arab countries started their PV program in the last decade, with Palestine implementing its program in 2017. Among the respondents, nine (60%) were members of the WHO International Drug Monitoring Program and were all users of the software provided by the WHO Uppsala Monitoring Center (VigiFlow or VigiBase), except Sudan. In 2017, a total of 27 502 reports were received by the centers in the studied countries, ranging from three reports received in Lebanon to a total of 7362 reports received by the national program of Algeria.

CONCLUSIONS

An improvement was noticed among the national PV programs in the Arab countries. However, a considerable difference still exists among the countries in terms of the implementation and practice of PV.