Luxembourg Participates in Medicines Safety Week Global Awareness Campaign

Luxembourg's Ministry of Health and Social Security has confirmed that it is participating this year again in the Medicines Safety Week, a global campaign aimed at raising public awareness about the safety and proper use of medicines.

Initiated annually by the World Health Organization (WHO), more than 100 organisations from 90+ countries are participating in #MedSafetyWeek 2024 from Monday 4 to Sunday 10 November.

This year's MedSafetyWeek campaign focuses on the importance of using medicines correctly to prevent adverse effects and to report such side effects when they occur.

As the health ministry noted, millions of people use medicines every day to treat themselves. Sometimes, these medicines can cause adverse effects. To minimise the risk, it is important to use medicines correctly, by respecting the dose indicated by one's healthcare professional.

The ministry added that side effects should be reported in order to improve the safety of treatments and better protect the public. The aim is to acquire more knowledge about these known side effects and to discover new ones. This knowledge can lead to warnings and changes in the way medicines are used.

For this new edition of MedSafetyWeek in Luxembourg, doctors are the new "ambassadors of medication safety". Together with pharmacists, who play this role every year, they will ensure wider public awareness about the correct use of medicines and compliance with the indicated doses. To do this, communication materials will be made available to patients and healthcare professionals in medical practices, pharmacies and hospitals.

The aim of this campaign is to promote the appropriate use of medicines and to encourage everyone involved to actively participate in reporting any adverse effects related to taking medication.

The ministry also stressed the importance of maintaining these good practices throughout the year.

In order to report adverse effects related to taking medication, patients are advised to discuss these side effects with their pharmacist or doctor. These healthcare professionals will then report the adverse effects to the public authorities. Patients can also report them directly using a form available on guichet.lu.

In Luxembourg, reports of adverse effects are processed by two institutions: the Pharmacy and Medicines Department of the Health Directorate and the Regional Pharmacovigilance Centre Nancy in France.