International cooperation

  |  Home  |  Internacional cooperation  |

During 2007, the main activities of International cooperation area had been:

Strengthening of the DURG-LA network

The FICF co-organized the 14^th Annual Meeting of the DURG-LA Network. This was held in Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic) in September, 2007. This meeting was followed by a national symposium on Pharmacoepidemiology and Drug Utilization in the HIV/AIDS Framework, organized by the local institution Consejo Presidencial del SIDA (COPRESIDA).

Up to 131 health professionals 46 health professionals attended the meeting (101 from Dominican Republic and 30 from 9 Latin-American countries).

Since the 2006 DURG-LA Meeting, several DURG-LA subnetworks (RELEM, Red Latinoamericana de Ética y Medicamentos) develop research projects on the following topics: ethics and medicines, adherence to antiretroviral drugs, utilization of antiretrovirals among children, critical analysis of the promotion of medicines, teaching of pharmacoepidemiology in primary health care, and drug utilization during pregnancy.

On-line Master in Pharmacoepidemiology (2005-07)

Several training courses and workshops have been carried out in collaboration with Latin American universities and health institutions:

• Update in Pharmacovigilance. Centro de Vigilância Sanitária, São Paulo, Brazil (April 2007).
• Training course in Pharmacovigilance. Centro de Investigación e Información sobre Medicamentos y Tóxicos. Universidad de Panamá (May 2007).
• Workshop on Drug Utilization Studies. Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics. Universidad de la República, Uruguay (June 2007).
• Update in Pharmacovigilance. Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics. Universidad de la República. Uruguay (June, 2007).
• Workshop on the Analysis of Reports of Therapeutic Failure. Health Ministry of Guatemala (November, 2007).
• Workshop on Drug Utilization Studies in Primary Health Care. Cátedra de Farmacología. Universidad Nacional del Nordeste, Corrientes, Argentina (December, 2007).

Technical support for improving of Drug Surveillance and Pharmacovigilance Systems

During 2007, FICF have given technical support and advise to several institution in order to improve national pharmacovigilance systems:>

• Brazilian Programme of Pharmacovigilance. Support to the Centro de Vigilância Sanitária (CVS). Health Department of the São Paulo State (Brazil), with support of PAHO and CVS.
• Strengthening of the Pharmacovigilance Programme in Panama, with support of the University of Panama and the Health Ministry of Panama.
• Evaluation and strengthening of the Pharmacovigilance Programme of Guatemala, with support of PAHO and the Health Ministry of Panama.
• Meeting with Dr Cristina Alonzo, Head of the Pharmacovigilance Unit, Health Ministry of Uruguay.

We have also given technical support to the PAHO/WHO Working Group of Pharmacovigilance in the framework of the Panamerican Network for Drug Regulatory Harmonization.

Development Projects funded by the Catalan Government

Since 2003, the Government of Catalonia (Agència Catalana de Cooperació al Desenvolupament, ACCD) is supporting several projects to improve maternal and infant health that are coordinated by FICF and developed in several Latin American countries. During 2007 a three year project to reduce morbidity and mortality due to post-partum haemorrhage was evaluated and completed. The Project was developed in several hospitals of Peru, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Argentina, and Dominican Republic. At present, FICF is analysing the results of a two year intervention in pneumonia and other respiratory problems in children, in Nicaragua, Guatemala, and Argentina.

Person in charge of area: Dr. Albert Figueras - afs@icf.uab.cat