COVID-19 posed a major challenge to the global health agenda, with pharmaceutical manufacturers shifting their production and distribution processes to rapidly respond to escalating demands for vaccines and medical products. The pandemic also revitalized the importance of sound pharmacovigilance (PV) systems and national regulatory authorities (NRA) to ensure the safety, quality, and efficacy of vaccines and drugs.

DMCs in Southeast Asia needed to scale up their pharmacovigilance functions and NRA maturity levels. Singapore had reached maturity level 4, while Thailand, Indonesia, and Viet Nam had reached level 3. The NRAs in these countries expressed interest in improving their maturity levels with assistance from WHO and key development partners.

The SECURE project contributed to improved pharmacovigilance and NRA maturity levels in Cambodia, Lao PDR, Thailand, the Philippines, Viet Nam, and Timor-Leste. SECURE assisted these countries in assessing their pharmacovigilance capacity and improving their pharmacovigilance and drug regulation policies, guidelines, and standard operating procedures.

This webinar disseminated the results of the SECURE TA initiatives on pharmacovigilance among the DMCs and shared good practices for improving and sustaining NRA maturity levels. The webinar also provided insights on development partner initiatives to strengthen pharmacovigilance systems and NRAs.