The World Health Organization’s monthly health journal, October edition, states that the health sector in Sierra Leone is ready to move forward.
The journal puts in the spotlight developments made in Pharmacovigilance (public health protection and education) at the Pharmacy Board of Sierra Leone (PBSL).
The WHO endorsed that the Pharmacy Board “is achieving its stated mission of assuring the safety, efficacy and quality of all drugs used in the country”.
After its assessment of the Pharmacy Board in August this year, the World Health Organization stated in its monthly journal that “it is well equipped, with access to the internet, having database of all legally imported medicines and that there a total of 49 Adverse Drug Reaction (ADR) in the database of the Pharmacy Board. The article reckoned that the ADRs are assessed on a quarterly basis by a committee of Pharmacist and other health professionals. WHO also described the presence of billboards at the centre of the capital City; advertising the dangers of counterfeit drugs and requesting health workers and the general public to report ADRs to the Pharmacy Board as “an innovation”.
On the issue of strengthening the resolve of Pharmacist and other health professionals to comply with the tenets of Pharmacovigilance, the article acknowledged the three-day workshop held during the WHO assessment visit to the country, as “one that encouraged health workers to have a sense of ownership over the (Pharmacovigilance) programme.
The WHO brief ended with the note that “Sierra Leone has the entire correct infrastructure in place for a successful Pharmacovigilance and furthermore has the all important political support. We should therefore be able to welcome the country as a full member of the WHO programme”.
When asked as to whether he is proud of this achievement, Acting Registrar of the Pharmacy Board WCN Johnson said that “the pride is for the country, we at the PBSL are only carrying out the people’s mandate”.
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