Currently, four countries (Ethiopia, Ghana, Nigeria, and South Africa) are actively involved in the pilot phase of the AU-3S programme. These countries cover roughly one third of Africa’s population and were originally selected for strategic reasons related to COVID-19. The AU-3S programme is expected to soon start expanding the pilot phase to additional countries. This will expand regional coverage and adapt pilot solutions for different languages. 

The pilot phase of the programme aims to test the principles with a small number of countries to efficiently enable the scaling of the programme to additional countries in the future. This pilot is due to be expanded in the short-term to a small number of additional countries with the aim of achieving more regional and language diversity. The long-term objective of the AU-3S programme is to operate at a continental level.

The pilot phase of the programme mobilised and launched quickly to support countries with safety monitoring of COVID-19 vaccines. The initial four pilot countries were selected for strategic reasons, with the number of countries selected kept small to ensure focused and agile development of solutions. This enabled efficient communication and seamless collaboration between the countries and the AU-3S programme while the principles of the programme were still being tested and developed. The pilot is expected to soon be expanded to a select number of additional countries with the aim of achieving more regional and language diversity.

• AU-3S aims to steadily expand into other countries and include their safety data into the database and signal analysis system used. If you wish to express interest in joining AU-3S then please email the AU-3S programme directly using AU3S@nepad.org.

• In addition to this, capacity strengthening training modules have been recorded and are available for use by all AU countries on the AU-3S e-Learning portal.

• AU Member States that are interested in obtaining the Med Safety App are to please contact WEB-RADR using WEB-RADR@mhra.gov.uk for further information.

The AU-3S programme has funding in place to test principles in a small number of representative countries. Additional funding is required to fully scale-up across the continent. AU-3S welcomes discussions with funders interested in investing in pharmacovigilance strengthening in Africa.