Knowledge, awareness and practices of adverse drug reaction reporting among healthcare professionals in the Ashanti Region of Ghana

Purpose: To assess the knowledge, awareness and practices of adverse drug reaction (ADR) reporting among healthcare professionals (HCPs) including nurses, doctors, Physician Assistants (PAs), pharmacists, and Medical Herbalists (MHs) in the Ashanti Region of Ghana, and to further identify predictors of HCPs’ reporting behaviors. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 326 HCPs from various healthcare facilities across the Ashanti Region. Data was collected using structured, pretested questionnaires and analyzed with R and STATA software, using descriptive statistics and univariate logistic regression to explore factors associated with reporting behaviors. Results: 93.6% of HCPs were aware of pharmacovigilance (PV), with 85.6% acknowledging ADR reporting as a professional mandate. However, only 49.4% were aware of Ghana’s National Pharmacovigilance Centre, with only 50% having submitted fully-filled ADR forms. Barriers to reporting included unavailability of forms (30.3%) and lack of training (23.3%). Age, experience and previous training significantly influenced reporting ( p < 0.05). The most ADR-implicated drugs were antibiotics (36.5%) and antihypertensives (17.8%), with gastrointestinal (34.4%), and central nervous system (32.4%) manifestations most often reported. Conclusion: This study reveals relevant insights into the PV landscape in Ghana’s Ashanti Region. Despite high awareness among HCPs in the Ashanti Region, operational knowledge and reporting practice were suboptimal, with most cited barriers being unavailability of forms and lack of training. Our findings highlight the need for targeted interventions such as continuous PV training, improved access to reporting tools, and inclusion of underrepresented HCP cadres like MHs to strengthen PV and improve ADR reporting in Ghana. Information & Authors Information Version history Copyright This work is licensed under a Non Exclusive No Reuse License.

Authors Metrics & Citations Metrics Article Usage 209views 106downloads Citations Download citation Emmanuel Delali Kofi Fiagbey, Linda Nyame, Zexiang Bao, et al. Knowledge, awareness and practices of adverse drug reaction reporting among healthcare professionals in the Ashanti Region of Ghana. Authorea. 03 October 2025. DOI: https://doi.org/10.22541/au.175952345.57297558/v1 DOI: https://doi.org/10.22541/au.175952345.57297558/v1 If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download. For more information or tips please see 'Downloading to a citation manager' in the Help menu.