Rafaella’s Literature Update
The following message is courtesy of Dr. Raffaella Ravinetto, Public Health Department, Institute of Tropical Medicine Antwerp, Belgium
Dear Friends,
This is an important mailing for those who do research, education and policy support in the field of quality of medicines!
The WHO has issued at the end of 2024 a new report of the Global Surveillance and Monitoring System (GSMS) for SF medical products, covering the period 2017–2021, and including invitro diagnostics and medical devices.
The report (attached, but also available online) signals a clear rise in the number of reported incidents of SF medical products, including a wide range of essential medicines, such as antimicrobials (the potential impact on increase in antimicrobial resistance cannot be understated!), oncology medicines and vaccines. During the period covered, 877 incidents were recorded, with an average annual increase of 36.3% – which I hope is at least partially due to an increased detection capacity, particularly in all those countries that are strengthening their regulatory oversight.
The report “recommendations include “strengthening regulatory systems, enhancing national legal frameworks, developing sustainable reporting systems, improving coordination between regulators and law enforcement, raising public awareness and promoting international cooperation“.
For those who are teaching on this subject: this is a precious source of data, graphs and figures that we can use in our teaching, provided that we clearly state the reference.
Very best,
Raffaella