SA watchdog stresses reporting side effects to make medicines safer

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While humanity benefits greatly from medicines in the treatment of illness and management of certain conditions, Sahpra said medicines may at times cause side effects.

However, according to the local drug watchdog, the risk of side effects and severe harm can be drastically reduced by taking medicines correctly and following the advice of a healthcare practitioner.

Sahpra, together with over 90 other medicines and health-product regulators, as well as healthcare organisations globally, participated in the annual MedSafety Week awareness initiative, which kicked off on Monday, 4 November and ended on Sunday, 10 November 2024.

This year’s theme focused on the importance of using medicines in the right way to prevent side effects and to report side effects when they do occur.

The awareness is spearheaded by the Uppsala Monitoring Centre under the auspices of the World Health Organisation (WHO) Programme for International Drug Monitoring.

This is a programme that monitors and identifies adverse effects of medicines and vaccines, to reduce risks to patients, and to establish worldwide pharmacovigilance standards and systems.

Sahpra chief executive officer, Boitumelo Semete-Makokotlela, said that handling and storing as well as taking medicines as directed by a healthcare professional is key in reducing the incidence of adverse reactions.

Preventing side effects

“Research shows that about half of all side effects are preventable. Patient safety is our top priority and we wish to remind patients to take their medicines as instructed and healthcare professionals to review therapies as well as each patient’s unique health conditions before prescribing or dispensing medicines,” said Semete-Makokotlela.

Sahpra called upon the South African public and healthcare professionals to use either the MedSafety app or the eReporting portal - both accessible on Sahpra's website - to report suspected side effects from health products.

According to the watchdog, all reports are assessed and examined to determine the correct steps to protect medicine users in South Africa from harm.

“The purpose is to gain better knowledge about known side effects and to discover new ones. This can result in warnings and changes to how a medicine is used,” the authority explained.

The Sahpra MedSafety app and eReporting portal can be used for reporting suspected adverse drug reactions from medicines, vaccines, herbal products, biological medicines and any quality issues relating to health products.