Research Article Pharmacovigilance Practices for Better Healthcare Delivery: Knowledge and Attitude Study in the National Malaria Control

Copyright © 2014 Pooja Gupta et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Objective. With large scale rollout of artemisinin based therapy in the National Malaria Control Programme of India, a risk management plan is needed. This depends on adverse drug reaction (ADR) reporting by the healthcare professionals (HCPs). For the programme to be successful, an understanding of the mindset of HCPs is critical. Hence, the present study was designed to assess and compare the ADR reporting beliefs of HCPs involved in the National Malaria Control Programme of India.Methods. A cross–sectional survey was conducted amongst the HCPs who manage malaria up to the district level in India. A 5-point Likert scale-based questionnaire was developed as a study tool. Results. A total of 154 HCPs participated in the study (age: 42.4 ± 10.1 years with 33.8 % being females). About 61 % felt that only medically qualified HCPs are responsible for ADR reporting. Likeliness to report in future was mentioned by 45 % HCPs. The knowledge score was relatively lower for life science graduates