Virtual workshop on pharmacovigilance (‎PV)‎ for traditional medicine (‎TRM)‎ products in the WHO South-East Asia Region

Overview

Given the wide use of traditional medicine (TRM) in the public and private health sectors among the Member States of the WHO South-East Asia (SEA) Region, the safety of TRM products is of great importance for the health authorities and people at large. The WHO Regional Traditional Medicine Programme identified strengthening pharmacovigilance (PV) for TRM products as a regional priority area in 2015. This is aligned with the WHO Global Traditional Medicine Strategy 2014−2023. As per a survey carried out by the WHO Regional Office for South-East Asia (SEARO) in 2018, eight out of the 11 Member States had established pharmacovigilance systems to monitor allopathic medicine safety, but only four countries (Bhutan, India, Indonesia, and Thailand) had included TRM products in their PV systems.

During the Seventy-second session of the WHO Regional Committee for South-East Asia in New Delhi in September 2019, Member States requested WHO to provide technical support in strengthening national regulatory systems to ensure the safety and quality of TRM products, specifically through PV for TRM products. The proposed regional workshop will address this need and provide an opportunity for peer learning and for identifying region- and country-specific roadmaps towards strengthened PV systems for TRM products.

The WHO Regional TRM Programme identified strengthening PV for TRM products as a key regional priority action point at the regional workshop on appropriate integration of TRM into health-care delivery systems held in Pyongyang, DPR Korea in October 2015. In addition, a South-East Asia Region Briefing Note on PV for TRM products was prepared in 2016, and a regional survey on PV for TRM products was conducted in 2018. Two country case studies on PV for TRM products (India and Thailand) were also undertaken in 2017. Following this, Member States again requested WHO to provide technical support to strengthen PV for TRM products at the Seventy-second Regional Committee session in September 2019.

In this context, the virtual Workshop on Pharmacovigilance for Traditional Medicine Products in the WHO South-East Asia Region was organized on 30 November−2 December 2020. This workshop is expected to enable countries to update their knowledge on PV for TRM products, identify regional and country priority action points, and evaluate technical areas for providing support to strengthen their PV systems to improve safety monitoring of TRM products.

This will also further contribute towards accelerating progress to achieve universal health coverage and the “Triple Billion” target of the WHO Thirteenth General Programme of Work (GPW13) through appropriate integration of safe and effective traditional medicines into national health-care delivery systems.