Public Health, Occupational Health and Epidemiology Conference

Pharmacovigilance in Public Health: Pharmacovigilance is defined as the science and practice of monitoring, assessing, and preventing adverse effects or any other possible drug-related problems in patients for a secure and appropriate use of drugs in populations. These activities, hence, significantly contribute to protecting public health because they reveal potential risks associated with pharmaceutical products and undertake measures to manage them. Improving patient safety and guiding healthcare practices is therefore linked to drug side effects, interactions with other drugs, and long-term effects of drugs through pharmacovigilance.

Pharmacovigilance is the collection and analysis of information regarding adverse drug reactions and any other drug-related problems. ADRs are reported by healthcare providers, patients, and pharmaceutical companies to the pharmacovigilance centers, where these reports are reviewed for signals suggesting safety issues. It is on the back of such data that regulatory authorities, such as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the European Medicines Agency, would later use in monitoring the drugs' safety and updates in guidelines, followed by the restricted usage or withdrawal of products from the market.

Pharmacovigilance is thus crucial for public health since it shifts attention from individual care of the patient to population safety. Pharmacovigilance can in turn detect uncharted drug effects, and adequate steps can be taken well in time to prevent harming society, especially its vulnerable sectors: children, elderly people, or those with chronic diseases. In addition, while clinical trials give initial information on new drugs or vaccines, real-world data is actually necessary for further enhanced critical information.

Advances in technology have given pharmacovigilance a more data-driven and proactive avatar. On one hand, big data analytics and artificial intelligence help in the faster detection of adverse events and predicting risk factors. These enable regulatory bodies to make timely decisions that enhance drug safety and efficacy, thus serving the public interest at large.

It also involves educating healthcare providers and the general public about the potential risks of drugs, in addition to prudent medication practices. Once a process is transparent, trust usually ensues; patients, therefore, are informed of what goes on in their bodies and, hence likely to follow their treatment plans more closely while lowering the risks.

Finally, it is in this respect that pharmacovigilance in public health becomes an issue related to safety, and it promotes risk-free health practices while protecting the individual from potential drug-related harm. A pharmacovigilance system continuously builds a more resilient and responsive healthcare system through the continuous monitoring of the safety profile of medicines.