WHO Programme for International Drug Monitoring

Established in 1968, The WHO Programme for International Drug Monitoring (PIDM) provides a forum for WHO Member States to collaborate in the monitoring of drug safety, and notably, the identification and analysis of new adverse reaction signals from data submitted to the WHO global individual case safety report (ICSR) database by member countries.

The programme consists of a three-part network:42

  • NPCs from WHO member countries are responsible for case reports sent to the WHO ICSR database (managed by the Uppsala Monitoring Centre (UMC) in Sweden);
  • UMC oversees the WHO programme operations, including:
    • collecting, assessing and communicating information from member countries about the benefits, harm, effectiveness and risks of drugs;
    • collaborating with member countries in the development and practice of pharmacovigilance;
    • alerting NRAs of member countries about potential drug safety problems via the WHO signal process.
  • WHO headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland is responsible for policy issues.

As of June 2021, 145 countries had joined the programme, and more than 26 associate members were awaiting compatibility between the national and international reporting formats. Member countries are shown on the map below.42