SPaRCS project: Reflections on learnings and future possibilities from a participatory action learning project

The University of the Western Cape (Schools of Public Health and Pharmacy) and its collaborators from Ministries of Health and National Regulatory Authorities (NRAs) from four countries – Eswatini, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe – held a final public event on 24 October 2023 in Cape Town, South Africa, which focused on learnings from the three-year project Strengthening pharmacovigilance and regulatory capacities in four Southern African countries (SPaRCS) and ideas for future possibilities for strengthening systems for medicines quality and safety in the region.

The SPaRCS project used a participatory action learning, and co-creation approach to develop personal and institutional capacities of the NRAs in the four countries. Key activities included: mapping and review of pharmacovigilance systems across the four countries, learning exchanges and thematic workshops on topics, including approaches to strengthen adverse drug reaction reporting and analysis, clinical trials oversight and the development of training materials for community health workers on adverse drug reaction reporting.

Key learnings from the project included opportunities for networking with like-minded colleagues in neighbouring countries; sharing best practices, including strategies to increase pharmacovigilance reporting and collaboration in clinical trials oversight; and collaborative development and piloting of training materials. Future possibilities involve garnering greater political support for pharmacovigilance and clinical trials oversight; fostering greater collaboration between stakeholders in-country; drawing in additional neighbouring countries; and forging collaborative initiatives through existing forums, such as ZaZiBoNa, SADC and the Africa Medicines Agency (AMA). The project was generously supported by the European & Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership.

The event included presentations from all of the partners involved, and a short reflection was provided by Dr Thomas Nyirenda, the EDCTP Strategic Partnerships and Capacity Development Manager and Head of Africa Office, and Professor Rafaella Ravinetto from the Institute of Tropical Medicine, Antwerp, who has been a strategic collaborator on the project. The event was preceded by a partner workshop.