Pharmacovigilance for Herbal Medicines in Sudan

Abstract

Sudan is a huge country with a rich variation in culture, vegetation and medicinal plants contributing to a diverse and widely practiced herbal and traditional medicine especially in rural areas where access to conventional medicine is limited. Sudanese medicinal plants are associated with a wide spectrum of traditional medicinal uses, including antimicrobial indications, gastrointestinal disorders, malaria, diabetes, rheumatic pain, respiratory system disorders, jaundice, urinary system inflammations, wounds and, possibly, anticancer uses. Nonetheless, there is only one report of an adverse drug reaction recorded in the national database of Sudan’s pharmacovigilance centre at the National Medicines and Poisons Board (NMPB). This relative scarcity of pharmacovigilance data is inconsistent with the extent of use of herbal medicines in Sudan as described above. This warrants the urgent review of current pharmacovigilance strategies to address the under-reporting of ADRs to the NMPB from across Sudan in general but with specific focus on ADRs associated with herbal medicines given the extent of use in Sudan and the recorded unpublished stories from the public.