The Pharmacovigilance System for Traditional Medicine in Thailand

Overview

Many Member States of the South-East Asia Region have a long history in and rich heritage of traditional medicine. They have also integrated traditional medicine into their national healthcare delivery systems to varying degrees. Safety is always a fundamental principle in the provision of any treatment and procedures. Given the wide use of traditional medicine across the Region, monitoring safety of traditional medicines becomes a priority area of work for Member States.

One of the common challenges that Member States face is how to establish and further strengthen the safety monitoring system for traditional medicine products, particularly with regard to pharmacovigilance. This was highlighted in a Regional Workshop on Appropriate Integration of Traditional Medicine into national healthcare delivery systems, held in Pyongyang, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, in October 2015. The regional action plans were discussed and developed at this workshop.

One of the action points was to support Member States in strengthening their adverse events reporting system for traditional medicine by the sharing of experiences. Accordingly, the WHO Regional Office for South-East Asia commissioned Thailand to conduct a country case study on the subject in 2016. This case study report has the potential to help Member States learn lessons from experience gained in Thailand.