The Global One Health initiative (GOHi), the Ethiopian Food and Drug Authority (EFDA) and the World Health Organization Ethiopia Office (WHO-ET), collaborated and delivered capacity-building training on the investigation and causality assessment of Adverse Events Following Immunization (AEFI).
Clinicians and experts from the national pharmacovigilance advisory committee, national immunization program, Tikur Anbessa Specialized Hospital (Addis Ababa University) and the pharmacovigilance team of the EFDA attended the three-day training workshop. As part of this training, causality assessments of three selected AEFIs reported from different health facilities were assessed for causality by using the WHO online causality assessment tool. Causal associations between the vaccines and the reported AEFI were evaluated and determined.
Though the safety advisory committee performed causality assessments on vaccines previously, they were encouraged to use this knowledge to work on the reported cases effectively and efficiently.
Participants suggested that the EFDA should communicate recommendations generated from the causality assessment of AEFIs to the national immunization program and take appropriate corrective actions to improve the public's confidence and vaccination uptake.
In his closing remarks, the deputy director of the EFDA acknowledged GOHi's support of the training, and the safety advisory committee members promised to use the knowledge and practice obtained from the training to provide effective and timely analysis and recommendations for monitoring the safety of vaccines.