October 27, 2016 ADDIS ABABA | The fifth meeting of the Global Vaccine Safety Initiative (GVSI)was held from 25-26 October 2016 at the African Union Hall in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The meeting was jointly organized by World Health Organization (WHO) and the African Union Commission. The meeting was attended by immunization program managers, pharmacovigilance staff of national regulatory authorities, from more than 30 countries and various stakeholders. In his opening remarks, Dr Paul Manuka, Officer-In-Charge of WHO Ethiopia stated that “For the World Health Organization, it is imperative to closely work with the Ministries of Health and the medicine regulatory authorities in establishing and strengthening pharmacovigilance systems greatly needed to ensure the safety of vaccines and medicines.” He also emphasized the importance of supporting member states in establishing strong health system that is a prerequisite for an effective vaccine safety monitoring system.

The fifth annual meeting was aimed at enabling member states and partners to interact and exchange information on progress with implementation of national and global vaccine pharmacovigilance activities, sharing new ideas and innovations, exploring new frontiers in vaccine safety, building partnerships, and, defining plans for further development.

Moreover, participants are expected to review progress in implementation of GVSI, address new challenges and opportunities in vaccine safety, facilitating further partnerships and inter-sectorial collaborations, explore safety issues of current interest and identify means to promote regulatory harmonization initiatives for pharmacovigilance of vaccines.

This meeting offered opportunities for countries to share their experiences on vaccine safety, the adverse event following immunization (AEFI) and the lesson learnt.

The expected outcomes of this meeting includes identifying successful approaches to monitor adverse events following immunization, developing specific strategies and recommendations for enhanced GVSI operations for vaccine safety monitoring according to local priorities and   establishing and strengthening collaborative mechanisms and partnerships within the GVSI and with regional regulatory harmonization initiatives.

In 2011, along with partners WHO developed a strategic document on vaccine safety namely the Global Vaccine Safety Blueprint. This document sets out indicators aiming at ensuring that all countries have at least a minimal capacity to keep vaccine safety.