Med Safety App Boosts Adverse Drug Reaction Reports by 73% in Uganda Trial

The Lancet Global Health paper offers the first large-scale LMIC evidence for a digital pharmacovigilance tool that is spurring calls for scale-up.

Overview

The cluster-randomised controlled trial covered 367 health facilities and more than 2,400 health-care workers across Uganda.
App use nearly doubled reports tied to dolutegravir at 92%, enhancing monitoring of a widely used HIV treatment.
Med Safety operated as an adjunct to existing methods within Uganda’s national pharmacovigilance system to lower reporting barriers.
Investigators and independent experts said the results provide robust proof of effectiveness and urged integration into routine practice.
The app originated from the WEB-RADR initiative, launched nationally in 2020, with the study funded by the UK MRC, Makerere University RIF, and Uganda’s National Drug Authority.