United States Supports Medication Safety Program for Vietnam

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

HANOI, Vietnam, 25 March 2009 – Vietnam has launched a new initiative to build consensus on medication safety and train medical practitioners on how best to prevent and report cases of adverse reactions to medicines.

“The national, regional and local drug information and adverse reaction systems are not complete on organizations, functions, duties and coordination mechanisms,” said Vice Health Minister Cao Minh Quang at the opening today of a meeting of pharmaceutical specialists and donors, sponsored by the U.S. government through U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

According to the Vice Minister, drug information and pharmacovigilance activities in Vietnam are still limited, have no long-term orientation and meet numerous difficulties. “We are still lacking staff that are well trained and have experience with drug information and pharmacovigilance,” he added.

Pharmacovigilance relates to activities relating to the detection, evaluation, understanding and prevention of adverse reactions to medicines, or any other medicine-related problems.  In 2008, the Drug Administration of Vietnam received over 2,000 reports of suspected adverse effects, mostly related to commonly-used medicines such as antibiotics, heart medicines, and painkillers.

Building on earlier work by the Ministry of Health, the Hanoi University of Pharmacy organized the pharmacovigilance consensus workshop for representatives of national and provincial governments, the professions of pharmacy and medicine, academia, hospitals, the pharmaceutical industry, donors and health-related international agencies.

Recognizing the importance of setting up a national system for collecting and monitoring adverse drug reactions and for providing drug information, the Government of Vietnam tasked the Ministry of Health’s Drug Administration Department and the Hanoi University of Pharmacy to develop a National Drug Information and Adverse Drug Reaction Reporting Center.

Following the workshop, the USAID-funded RPM Plus program will hold a three-day training-of-trainers introductory course on pharmacovigilance and medication safety for over 42 staff members from 16 Vietnamese public health programs and academic institutions. The training will strengthen the understanding of pharmacovigilance and medicines safety in Vietnam among health practitioners to better target and prevent adverse effects to medicines and other medication-related patient safety concerns. More training is planned for later in the year.

Funding for the consensus workshop and training was provided by USAID with support from Management Sciences for Health’s Rational Pharmaceutical Management Plus program and the Partnership for Supply Chain Management’s Supply Chain Management System.

USAID began supporting HIV/AIDS programs in Vietnam in the mid-1990s. In June 2004, Vietnam became the 15th focus country under the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). PEPFAR has supported life-saving antiretroviral treatment for more than 17,000 people, and provided care to nearly 7,000 orphans and vulnerable children last year alone.  In 2008, USAID’s HIV/AIDS programs reached more than 59,000 people affected by the virus.  In May 2008, after two years of planning, Vietnam launched six pilot methadone clinics in Hai Phong and Ho Chi Minh City, funded primarily by USAID, to combat heroin addiction.  Vietnam is the only country employing PEPFAR funds to support medication-assisted heroin addiction  therapy.

# # #

Back to Vietnam News Room

Go to Vietnam Country Page