From the field.
Research, advocacy and community — written by the people doing the work.
Pharmacovigilance Requirements for NCD Medicines
The article emphasizes that pharmacovigilance for noncommunicable disease medicines must be continuous, product-specific, and grounded in real-world use because these medicines are often taken for years or lifelong. It explains that clinical trials cannot detect all long-term, rare, cumulative, or interaction-related risks, especially among patients with multimorbidity, polypharmacy, organ impairment, pregnancy, or other vulnerabilities. Pharmaceutical companies should therefore strengthen safety systems through risk-management planning, high-quality adverse-event reporting, active surveillance, real-world evidence, targeted clinical monitoring, signal management, risk communication, and product-quality oversight. Overall, the article frames pharmacovigilance not as a compliance exercise, but as a scientific and ethical responsibility to detect preventable harm early while preserving access to beneficial NCD treatment.
The Value of Trust in Health Communication
As health communication becomes increasingly crowded by marketing, misinformation, and AI-generated content, trust is essential to protecting consumers. Brands must prioritize evidence-based messaging, equip content creators with accurate knowledge, and connect audiences to qualified healthcare professionals. Ultimately, ethical health communication puts consumer safety before sales.
Behind the Curtain: What a Workshop on Economic Modelling Taught Me About the Cost of Care
A five-day health economics workshop in Nairobi brought together stakeholders to examine the true cost of Kenya’s response to non-communicable diseases. Focusing on stroke and chronic kidney disease, the experience highlighted a critical imbalance: too much spending is directed toward costly late-stage treatment, while prevention, early screening, community education, and timely intervention remain underfunded. For the author, the workshop revealed that every health policy and clinical decision carries economic consequences for patients, families, and the health system. It also reinforced the urgent need for pharmacists to contribute more actively to NCD planning, cost-effectiveness discussions, and pharmacoeconomics in Kenya.
Critical Considerations in Pharmacovigilance of Medical Devices and In-Vitro Diagnostics
The article highlights the need to expand patient safety efforts beyond medicines and vaccines to include strong vigilance for medical devices and in-vitro diagnostics (IVDs). These technologies are central to healthcare, but their risks often emerge after use in real-world settings. It stresses that device and IVD vigilance must monitor both safety and performance, since malfunctions, false results, software issues, poor maintenance, or user errors can lead to delayed diagnosis, misdiagnosis, or patient harm. The article calls for stronger post-market surveillance systems, better reporting pathways, user feedback, literature screening, trained personnel, and collaboration among regulators, manufacturers, healthcare workers, laboratories, and patients. For Africa, it frames materiovigilance as a key patient safety and market-shaping priority as the continent expands access to health technologies and strengthens regulatory systems.
An Overview of Africa’s Medical Device/IVD Regulatory Landscape
This article explores Africa’s regulatory landscape for medical devices and in-vitro diagnostics, highlighting the difference between having health product laws and having practical guidelines that make regulation work. Based on a review of all 54 African countries, it finds that while most countries have legal frameworks for health products, fewer have specific guidelines for medical devices and IVDs. The article argues that regulation is not a barrier to access, but a foundation for ensuring that products reaching patients are safe, effective, reliable, and properly monitored. It also shows how countries are using regional and international frameworks, including UEMOA, IMDRF, and ISO 13485, to strengthen regulatory systems and support market access across the continent.
THE NEED FOR A SYSTEM AUDIT IN PHARMACOVIGILANCE CONTRACTING: QPPV PERSPECTIVE
The article argues that a system audit should come before any pharmacovigilance contracting because it gives the QPPV a full understanding of the system they are expected to oversee. By reviewing governance, processes, technology, quality systems, partners, and risks upfront, the audit helps prevent scope creep, budget increases, delays, and compliance gaps.
Before AI Can Power Africa’s Life Sciences...
AI has huge potential to transform Africa’s life-sciences industry, but AI itself isn’t the foundation. It depends on the infrastructure underneath it: quality, connected data; computing power and digital infrastructure; skilled people; trust and governance; and investment. Across pharmacovigilance, supply chains, clinical research and regulatory affairs, AI can only work as well as the systems feeding it. Fragmented data, poor interoperability, weak digital infrastructure and unclear governance can limit even the smartest AI tools. Africa’s AI opportunity in life sciences therefore isn’t just about building smarter applications. It’s about building the foundations that make those applications reliable, scalable and responsible. The model gets attention. Infrastructure does the work.
AI Doesn't Replace Expertise. It Tests It.
AI can make work faster, but it cannot replace the expertise needed to judge whether its answers are correct. As AI becomes more embedded in life sciences, professionals need deep industry knowledge to question, verify and apply its outputs effectively. The real advantage is not simply knowing how to use AI, it is knowing when to trust it.
Why Life Science Companies Should Invest in Professional Development of their Employees
Africa’s life science industry is evolving rapidly, driven by scientific innovation, emerging technologies, and changing regulatory requirements. For companies to keep pace, they need more than new technologies—they need skilled, adaptable, and continuously developing talent. Investing in professional development strengthens technical capabilities, compliance, innovation, market confidence, and employee retention while positioning companies to influence industry trends and navigate regulatory change. In short, talent development is not a cost to contain; it is a strategic investment in sustainable growth and Africa’s life science future.
QPPV in Africa: From Regulatory Compliance to Strategic Patient-Safety Leadership
Across Africa, pharmacovigilance is evolving from a regulatory requirement into a strategic pillar of patient safety and responsible pharmaceutical market participation. At the center of this shift is the Qualified Person for Pharmacovigilance (QPPV)—not simply as a compliance appointment, but as an empowered leader responsible for ensuring safety information is captured, assessed and acted upon. For Marketing Authorization Holders, building the authority, systems, information flows and resources needed to support the QPPV can strengthen regulatory readiness, protect patients and build trust across increasingly connected African markets.