Project: Vaccines and Medicines utilisation and safety monitoring system in a Health and Demographic Surveillance System, Uganda

Acronym	VXMedSSurv (Reference Number: TMA2016CDF-1563)
Duration	01/06/2018 - 31/05/2021
Project Topic	Developing countries receive immense volumes of drugs and vaccines because of the huge disease burden. However, the burden of adverse reactions/effect of these efficacious drugs and vaccines at population level has not been fully explored in the African context. This is in addition to medication errors, irrational drug use, poor drug quality and counterfeits which undermines patient safety as well as questioning the health system credibility. The VXMedSSurv project will utilise the health and demographic surveillance system (HDSS) to monitor the safety and use of vaccines and medicines (pharmacovigilance) in both public and private health facilities. The project will actively and passively track adverse drug and vaccine reactions and/or events, within the Iganga Mayuge health and demographic surveillance site (IMHDSS) in Uganda. The study utilises the system linking of HDSS demographic data with health facility data like immunisation, diagnosis, prescriptions and ANC outcomes. The project will conduct studies on drug utilisation and diagnostics to understand their contribution to the risk of adverse drug and vaccine reactions, and treatment outcomes. In the phase that will stretch beyond the project lifespan, the team will establish of a reproductive and pregnancy registry to capture treatment seeking patterns, maternal immunisation and lifestyle during pregnancy as well as pregnancy outcomes in women of reproductive age. Data mining of spontaneous reporting systems data and electronic health records for pharmacovigilance purposes using various machine learning methods will be used to identify potential adverse drug reactions and detection of drug safety signals. Project outputs and findings will be used by regulators, pharmaceutical companies, academia, and researchers to improve pharmacovigilance policies in Africa. The fellow will gain research leadership and management expertise needed for an independent researcher as well hone his pharmacoepideiology and pharmacovigilance expertise in African settings. Capacity building and mentorship activities in this project will empower budding researchers in Africa with interest in pharmacovigilance.
Network	EDCTP2
Call	Career Development Fellowships 2016

Project partner

Number	Name	Role	Country
1	Makerere University Centre for Health and Population Research Limited	Coordinator	Uganda