Herbal medicines pharmacovigilance in Iran

The global consumption of herbal medicines continues to increase steadily. Indeed, many people use herbal medicines for health promotion and therapeutic purposes in developing and industrialized countries. However, reports of adverse events in mass media are usually sentimental and generally render...

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Main Author: Mohammad Hadi Zarei
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Shahrekord University of Medical Sciences 2022-06-01
Series:Future Natural Products
Subjects:
Online Access:http://futurenatprod.skums.ac.ir/article_252363_d81fd2396cf7f17089ddf73d67affb9e.pdf
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author Mohammad Hadi Zarei
author_facet Mohammad Hadi Zarei
author_sort Mohammad Hadi Zarei
collection DOAJ
description The global consumption of herbal medicines continues to increase steadily. Indeed, many people use herbal medicines for health promotion and therapeutic purposes in developing and industrialized countries. However, reports of adverse events in mass media are usually sentimental and generally render a negative feeling about the usage of herbal medicines instead of identifying the reasons for such incidences, which can be associated with a number of issues. Both national health specialists and the common people are concerned about the safety of herbal medicines. The World Health Organization (WHO) has recommended the inclusion of herbal medicines in the current national pharmacovigilance systems to fortify national capability in keeping the safety of herbal medicines under surveillance and investigating the reasons for adverse events, and to share related data at different levels in the world. Iranian pharmacovigilance system fulfills most of the WHO pharmacovigilance criteria. However, the underreporting of adverse drug reactions (ADRs), particularly medicine-related hospital admissions and deaths is a major weakness of this system. In addition to paying more attention to ADRs reporting, the Iranian pharmacovigilance program requires to include herbal medicines that constitute a high proportion of medicinal products in Iran. Due to the absence of reporting mechanisms (for herbal medicines), there have so far been few reports on herbal medicine-induced adverse events. However, an extremely small number of reports do not guarantee the complete safety of herbal products. Therefore, herbal pharmacovigilance is required to ensure safety of herbal medicines in Iran.
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spelling doaj.art-ca21984a30714604bcbe7e155fd4eaea2022-12-22T03:20:08ZengShahrekord University of Medical SciencesFuture Natural Products2783-46622022-06-0181292910.34172/fnp.2022.06252363Herbal medicines pharmacovigilance in IranMohammad Hadi Zarei0Medical Plants Research Center, Basic Health Sciences Institute, Shahrekord University of Medical Sciences, Shahrekord, IranThe global consumption of herbal medicines continues to increase steadily. Indeed, many people use herbal medicines for health promotion and therapeutic purposes in developing and industrialized countries. However, reports of adverse events in mass media are usually sentimental and generally render a negative feeling about the usage of herbal medicines instead of identifying the reasons for such incidences, which can be associated with a number of issues. Both national health specialists and the common people are concerned about the safety of herbal medicines. The World Health Organization (WHO) has recommended the inclusion of herbal medicines in the current national pharmacovigilance systems to fortify national capability in keeping the safety of herbal medicines under surveillance and investigating the reasons for adverse events, and to share related data at different levels in the world. Iranian pharmacovigilance system fulfills most of the WHO pharmacovigilance criteria. However, the underreporting of adverse drug reactions (ADRs), particularly medicine-related hospital admissions and deaths is a major weakness of this system. In addition to paying more attention to ADRs reporting, the Iranian pharmacovigilance program requires to include herbal medicines that constitute a high proportion of medicinal products in Iran. Due to the absence of reporting mechanisms (for herbal medicines), there have so far been few reports on herbal medicine-induced adverse events. However, an extremely small number of reports do not guarantee the complete safety of herbal products. Therefore, herbal pharmacovigilance is required to ensure safety of herbal medicines in Iran.http://futurenatprod.skums.ac.ir/article_252363_d81fd2396cf7f17089ddf73d67affb9e.pdfherbal medicinesworld health organizationpharmacovigilance
spellingShingle Mohammad Hadi Zarei
Herbal medicines pharmacovigilance in Iran
Future Natural Products
herbal medicines
world health organization
pharmacovigilance
title Herbal medicines pharmacovigilance in Iran
title_full Herbal medicines pharmacovigilance in Iran
title_fullStr Herbal medicines pharmacovigilance in Iran
title_full_unstemmed Herbal medicines pharmacovigilance in Iran
title_short Herbal medicines pharmacovigilance in Iran
title_sort herbal medicines pharmacovigilance in iran
topic herbal medicines
world health organization
pharmacovigilance
url http://futurenatprod.skums.ac.ir/article_252363_d81fd2396cf7f17089ddf73d67affb9e.pdf
work_keys_str_mv AT mohammadhadizarei herbalmedicinespharmacovigilanceiniran