Why Latin America matters for pharmacovilance

Latin America is home to more than 650 million people, and the safety of the medicines and vaccines they use depends on strong, connected pharmacovigilance systems.
 

A region of scale and diversity. From large urban centres to remote rural and Indigenous communities, Latin America brings together a wide range of genetic backgrounds, health systems, disease profiles and patterns of medicine use. Safety signals seen elsewhere may look different here, and some can only be detected here.
 

Growing and maturing regulatory systems. National regulatory authorities across the region have strengthened their pharmacovigilance capacity in recent years, many with the support of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO). Convergence, reliance and the exchange of safety data between countries are now shared priorities.
 

Unique public health challenges. Mass vaccination campaigns, endemic and emerging diseases such as dengue, the rapid uptake of biologics and biosimilars, and wide access to medicines without a prescription all call for vigilant, well-informed monitoring.
 

Gaps we can close together. Under-reporting of adverse reactions, limited resources and uneven training remain real barriers. Patients and healthcare professionals are still learning how, and why, to report. Sharing experience between countries is one of the fastest ways to close these gaps.
 

A voice in global drug safety. Latin America is an important site for clinical trials and a growing pharmaceutical market. Data and expertise from the region strengthen global safety knowledge, from the WHO Programme for International Drug Monitoring to scientific publications such as Drug Safety.
 

This is why the ISoP Latin American Chapter exists, and why this symposium matters: to connect the people who keep medicines safe across the region, so that patient safety truly reaches everyone.