Safety in administering medicines for neglected tropical diseases

Course information

Overview: Safety is a primary concern for NTD programmes. For example, medicines that are donated for treatment are manufactured under stringent regulatory authority guidelines or are prequalified by WHO, with considerable effort in determining safety for mass treatment and in conducting surveillance for serious adverse events. These training modules are intended to help national programmes for neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) plan, prepare and monitor the safe administration of medicines for treatment of these diseases.

The objective of this training is to: to enable national NTD programme manager to improve safety of NTD medicine with a safe management of medications, a good knowledge on chocking prevention and identification, management and reporting of adverse events

Course duration: Approximately 1 hour.

Certificates: A Record of Achievement certificate will be available to participants who score at least 80% in the final assessment. Participants who receive a Record of Achievement can also download an Open Badge for this course. Click here to learn how.

Course contents

• Module 1: Introduction to NTD drug safety for programme managers:

  The learning objectives of this module are to: • explain the global “patient safety” movement and its importance for NTD programming; • identify the challenges to safety in administering medicines for NTDs; and • describe the definitions of adverse event and serious adverse event, and the types of adverse events that should be investigated and reported.

• Module 2: Safe management of medications for programme managers:

  The learning objectives of this module are to: • explain how the safety of medicines and their administration are integral to NTD programmes, from manufacture to administration; • describe what is meant by “age-appropriate formulation” of medicine and why it is important for NTD programmes; • recognize the exclusion criteria for preventive chemotherapy and their rationale; and • explain the role of drug administration in ensuring safety of NTD programmes.

• Module 3: Safe administration of preventive chemotherapy for programme managers: Prevention of choking:

  The learning objectives for this module are to: • identify the primary risk factors for choking on medicine; • explain the programmatic and practical steps to prevent choking on medicine given for NTD treatment and control; and • classify what steps to recommend to community drug distributors to prevent choking.

• Module 4: Collaboration with pharmacovigilance agencies for programme managers:

  The learning objectives for this module are to: • explain the benefits of close collaboration with national pharmacovigilance centres; and • idenfity the several ways of building strong relationships and linkages between NTD programmes and pharmacovigilance centres.

• Module 5: Recognizing, managing and reporting serious adverse events for programme managers:

  The learning objectives for this module are to: • explain the definition of serious adverse events and the rationale for their investigation and reporting; • identify the criteria for excluding people from preventive chemotherapy with the different NTD medicines; • prioritize actions when serious adverse events occur; • describe the principles and elements of adverse event investigations; and • organize a notification and reporting system for serious adverse events.

• Module 6: Communication and rumour control for programme managers:

  The learning objectives for this module are to: • explain the importance of informed consent in treatment and prevention of NTDs; • identify the elements of an NTD communication plan; • explain the basic principles for communicating with the media; and • describe the importance of rapidly and effectively addressing rumours and misinformation related to preventive chemotherapy.

• Module 7: Introduction to NTD drug safety for Community Drug Distributors (CDD):

  Modules 7-11 : the contents of these modules are the same as the ones of programme managers but they were modified and adapted for community drug distributors.

• Module 8: Safe management of medications for Community Drug Distributors (CDD):

  Modules 7-11: the contents of these modules are the same as the ones of programme managers but they were modified and adapted for community drug distributors.

• Module 9 Choking prevention for Community Drug Distributors (CDD):

  Modules 7-11: the contents of these modules are the same as the ones of programme managers but they were modified and adapted for community drug distributors.

• Module 10: Serious adverse events for Community Drug Distributors (CDD):

  Modules 7-11 : the contents of these modules are the same as the ons of programme managers but they were modified and adapted for community drug distributors.

• Module 11: Communication for Community Drug Distributors (CDD):

  Modules 7-11: the contents of these modules are the same as the ones of programme managers but they were modified and adapted for community drug distributors.

• End of course:

  In this module you will find the final test to obtain your Record of Achievement and the end of course survey to assess the course and give us your feed-back about it