Help making medicines safer by reporting suspected side effects: State Agency of Medicines of Latvia launches second social media campaign

Help making medicines safer by reporting suspected side effects: State Agency of Medicines of Latvia launches second social media campaign

From 20-24 November, State Agency of Medicines of Latvia is running a social media campaign to promote the reporting of suspected side effects of medicines. The campaign forms part of the second EU-wide awareness week with a focus this year on over-the-counter medicines.

Click on the image

While medicines are safe and effective, side effects can happen, even with over-the-counter medicines. It is important that the risks associated with the use of medicines are understood and communicated to healthcare professionals and patients.

Potential side effects may range from a headache or sore stomach, to flu-like symptoms or just ‘feeling a bit off’. Reporting helps regulators monitor medicines on the market and take action as appropriate. It’s also useful to report suspected side effects that happen when taking more than one medicine, after long term use, or from interactions with food or other products.

Regulators such as the State Agency of Medicines of Latvia rely on the reporting of suspected side effects to make sure medicines on the market are acceptably safe. Unfortunately, all reporting systems suffer from under reporting – that’s why our campaign is important to both raise awareness and help strengthen the system.

The campaign awareness week was born out of the Strengthening Collaboration for Operating Pharmacovigilance in Europe (SCOPE) Joint Action project. One of its main aims is to raise awareness of national reporting systems for suspected side effects in medicines. This year it is supported by the World Health Organisation’s Uppsala Monitoring Centre.