KIU, Western Campus – The KIU Pharmacy Students Association (KIUPSA) has launched the medical quiz and essay competition for 2024.

The competition will be held under the theme, “Ensuring medication safety through pharmacovigilance as a team” and is open to all pharmacy students.

The European Union website defines pharmacovigilance as the process and science of monitoring the safety of medicines and taking action to reduce the risks and increase the benefits of medicines.

According to Charles Jesse Gaboyi, the president of KIUPSA, the competition will help pharmacy students to know various types of adverse drug reactions among patients through Pharmacovigilance. 

“The competition is primarily aimed at ensuring that students come to know in detail what Pharmacovigilance is and what it entails in regards to ensuring medication safety among the public and patients more particular,” he said.

“It will enable them to learn how to distinguish between the adverse drug reactions and side effects, how to fill the adverse drug reactions reporting form and how to collaborate with other health professionals in curbing adverse drug reactions among the patients,” he added.

For the essay competition, participants are expected to write between 2,000 and 7,000 words. All submissions will be forwarded to kiupsaeducationcommittee@gmail.com.

Winners will receive 100,000 shillings and runners-up 50,000 shillings and every participant will be given a certificate at the 2024 annual KIUPSA conference, and the best articles will be published in the next issue of KIUPSA Journal.