WHAT IS THE DATA INTEGRATION AND SIGNAL DETECTION (DISD) SYSTEM?

The AU-3S programme aims to create a sustainable continental monitoring system to improve the safety of medical products for patients across Africa. The planned full-scale AU-3S system was unable to be developed in the short time frame required to meet the COVID-19 needs so an interim solution was required. The interim solution chosen by the steering group was the Data Integration and Signal Detection (DISD) system hosted by the MHRA.

The system’s initial scope for signal detection is COVID-19 vaccine data, due to the pressing need for improved safety surveillance of this novel emergency product. Data in the system will remain African-owned and African-controlled and will be able to be transferred into the future African pharmacovigilance system (AfriVigilance). The MHRA have set up regular data mining runs on the cross-country data in the DISD system which is used by the AU-3S JSM group for signal management.