Nigeria’s National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has launched an intensified drive to strengthen pharmacovigilance—the detection and prevention of adverse drug reactions (ADRs).
At a Lagos briefing, Dr. Uchenna Elemuwa, NAFDAC’s Director of Pharmacovigilance, outlined the goals of the “Saving Lives and Livelihood” project: training healthcare workers, integrating ADR reporting into hospitals, and equipping facilities with real-time monitoring tools.
Since establishing a national pharmacovigilance center in 2004 and collaborating with the World Health Organization via the BGFLOW database, Nigeria has reported only 4,600 ADRs in 2024—merely 10% of the WHO’s benchmark.
“Patient safety must be central to our healthcare system,” Dr. Elemuwa insisted, urging doctors, pharma companies, and the public to report side effects through platforms like the Med Safety App.
Project Coordinator Dr. Adeline Osakwe highlighted partnerships with the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and the Primary Health Care Development Agency to broaden grassroots reporting and assure vaccine safety.
Lead Scientist Dr. Segun Showande announced plans to train over 40,000 professionals and reach 100 million citizens via awareness campaigns. The initiative aligns with global best practices and Saudi Vision 2030–style digital integration, marking a pivotal step toward robust drug‐safety oversight.
