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The oldest WHO intervention to assure the safety of medications is the International Nonproprietary Name (INN) Consultation. I attended the 54th INN Consultation and found myself among experts who decided on the names of old and new active substances in medications. I soon discovered the impact of naming medications to ensure safety. The experts were very particular about the names of each of the active substances to ensure that they could not be mistaken for other existing substances. This shed light on the role of Canadian pharmacists in ensuring drug safety; pharmacists have taken a leading role in monitoring drug safety as most of the adverse drug reactions submitted to MedEffect can be attributed to pharmacists. If informed, pharmacists can address the problem of under-reporting as they play an integral role in monitoring drug safety since their practice allows them to interact and counsel patients on medications use daily and regularly detect prescribing errors. Overall, the experience allowed me to see that no intervention is too small to ensure appropriate use and safety of medications worldwide.
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