Mogadishu & Djibouti (Dawan Africa) – Somalia and Djibouti have formally established national pharmacovigilance systems to monitor the safety of medicines and vaccines.
The new systems enable health authorities in both countries to collect, assess, and report adverse drug reactions and substandard or falsified medical products.
With support from the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), the World Health Organization (WHO), and partners including Akros Research and the Saving Lives and Livelihoods (SLL) initiative funded by the Mastercard Foundation, both countries have introduced digital reporting tools and training for health workers.
Somalia has initiated nationwide training, deployed digital platforms, and introduced standard reporting forms to increase safety data submission by the end of 2025.
Djibouti is implementing a dedicated pharmacovigilance unit, digital infrastructure, and supervisory systems to strengthen medicine safety monitoring.
Both Somalia and Djibouti have begun submitting data to VigiBase, the WHO global database for adverse drug reaction reports.
The move is part of a broader effort by the African Union to strengthen health regulatory systems across the continent.
