Dr Emile Ouédraogo of Burkina Faso reported how the introduction of a new vaccine – the meningitis vaccine MenAfriVac – provided an opportunity to strengthen the country’s AEFI surveillance system. Prior to this, training on spontaneous reporting of adverse drug reactions for malaria and HIV/TB medicines had been funded by the Global Fund, and in 2010 Burkina Faso became a member of the WHO Programme for International Drug Monitoring, although reporting was limited to adverse reactions related to drugs for malaria, HIV/TB and neglected diseases. For the introduction of MenAfriVac, an AEFI expert review committee was established and a toolkit for monitoring was developed, including a reporting form, standard operating procedures, and terms of reference for the AEFI expert committee. Additionally, the AEFI review committee was trained, as were health workers and staff members of the national pharmacovigilance centre. Financial and logistical support was provided for the conduct of three studies – on active surveillance of adverse events of special interest, stimulated passive surveillance of AEFI during the large-scale immunization campaign, and a cohort study of vaccinated pregnant women.
As a result of the introduction of MenAfriVac, Burkina Faso now has a functioning pharmacovigilance centre with an advisory committee and an expert committee on vaccine safety. The national pharmacovigilance database now has 1840 reports, of which 1488 are for MenAfriVac and 352 for a new measles-rubella vaccine. Dr Ouédraogo outlined the different responsibilities of district, regional and national levels in the surveillance system. Nevertheless, there are some drawbacks. As yet the country has no AEFI data on routine vaccines, there are insufficient experts to assess causality and investigate serious AEFI, and financial and logistical resources to support the system are lacking. Ongoing efforts are being made to sensitize health workers and mothers about the importance of reporting AEFI, to train district personnel for investigation of serious AEFI during immunization campaigns, and to promote active surveillance for new vaccines. The motivation of health workers is an important element in success.

AEFI, Vaccine, Burkina Faso, MenAfrivac