As a rule spontaneous monitoring aims at country-wide reporting and the use of one central pharmacovigilance database to obtain a national overview. The collection of data may nevertheless be more successful in number and quality if reporting is organised regionally, especially when countries are large or have regional cultural differences. Regional centres with short lines of communication to healthcare professionals may improve communications and feedback. When regional centres are used, good collaboration and data-exchange with the national centre needs to be ensured. Regionalisation requires more staff and facilities and can therefore be more expensive.