Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) has recently became Full Member of the WHO Programme for International Drug Monitoring (PIDM).  SVG joins three other CARICOM states as full members: Barbados, Jamaica and Suriname. The Programme was established in 1968, and consists of a group of more than 150 countries that work nationally and collaborate internationally to monitor any harm caused by medicines, to reduce the risks to patients and to establish worldwide pharmacovigilance standards and systems.

The Uppsala Monitoring Centre (UMC) has been responsible for the technical and operational aspects of the programme since 1978, and from October 2017, the Caribbean Regulatory System (CRS) of the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) VigiCarib program began sharing reports from SVG with the UMC, which has contributed to achievement of full membership. As of April 2020, 99 case reports of suspected adverse drug reactions have been reported to the UMC via the CRS from the SVG Pharmacovigilance and Drug Information Centre, and SVG has become a leader in reporting in CARICOM.

CARICOM States with membership in the WHO PIDM

Full Members: Barbados, Jamaica, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname

Associate Members: Antigua and Barbuda, Belize, British Virgin Islands, Dominica, Haiti, Grenada, Guyana, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia

Further information at https://www.who-umc.org/global-pharmacovigilance/who-programme-for-international-drug-monitoring/who-programme-members/ and https://carpha.org/What-We-Do/CRS/VigiCarib