Promoting the role of Malaysian non-governmental organizations in the safety of medicines

Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) recently have become the global voice of the people, as their needs and choices arise. The main aim of this short communication is to encourage NGOs in Malaysia such as Consumer Association Penang (CAP) and The Federation of Malaysian Consumers Associations (FOMCA) to participate in drug safety activities. We discuss the role of NGOs, why NGOs should be interested in drug safety, the need of the involvement for Malaysian NGOs in drug safety initiatives in Malaysia and the role of NGOs in consumer reporting of Adverse Drug Reactions (ADR) in Malaysia. We concluded that NGOs should play active and vital role to enhance drug safety activities in Malaysia.