Pharmacovigilance amongst patent medicine vendors (PMVs) in Ekiti state, Nigeria

With the current population of Nigeria and the limited number of trained health care providers, PMVs are inevitable and highly needed especially in the rural areas for the supply of drugs in treating minor illnesses. Thus, pharmacovigilance (PVG) activity in Nigeria cannot exclude the roles of PMVs; therefore, this study was aimed to determine the knowledge of PMVs on PVG and adverse drug reaction reporting system. The study was a descriptive cross-sectional survey of the knowledge of Pharmacovigilance and adverse drug reaction reporting system of 96 PMVs in Ekiti state, Nigeria before the National Pharmacovigilance training in February, 2011 and after the training. The data obtained before the training showed that more than 87% of the respondents had at least secondary level of education. About half of the respondents (58.5%) knew the correct meaning of PVG and 56.6% knew how to report ADRs. But only about one third of them (35.8%) knew where to obtain ADR forms. Very few respondents 3 (5.7%) had received report/complaints of ADR from patients in the last 1 month while just 2 (3.8%) of them reported. The most commonly mentioned factors/reasons for poor reporting of ADRs/compliance with PVG guideline by the respondents were fears of indictment (61.3%), poor public knowledge (88.7%), and poor training on PMVs (92.5%). However, the results after the training showed a statistically significant (p ≤ 0.005) improvement in the proportion of respondents who were aware of PVG (from 55.8% to 89.1%), those who knew the meaning of PVG (from 49.0% to 61.7%), where to obtain ADR form (28.3% to 92.1%) and those who knew how to report ADRs (44.2% to 88.0%). PMVs are ready to practice PVG if they are properly trained. Training has been revealed to play a significant role in the knowledge of the concept of PVG amongst PMVs. It is therefore recommended that National Pharmacovigilance Centre should continue to organize periodic trainings for PMVs especially those with poor knowledge on PVG.