Gambia launches door-to-door campaign after child deaths
BANJUL - Gambia has launched an urgent door-to- door campaign to remove cough and cold syrups blamed for the deaths of more than 60 children from kidney injury in the tiny West African country.
The director of health Dr. Mustapha Bittaye confirmed to The Associated Press the wave of child deaths from acute kidney injury, sending shockwaves across the country of 2.4 million people and around the world.
The World Health Organization has issued an alarm in response to the deaths.
WHO has issued a medical product alert for four contaminated medicines in Gambia that have been suspected of being linked to acute kidney injuries and 66 deaths among children, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a statement issued Wednesday.
He said that the loss of young lives is beyond heartbreaking for their families.
The WHO statement said that the four medicines are cough and cold syrups produced in India.
The contaminated products have been detected only in Gambia, but they may have been distributed to other countries, it said. WHO is pursuing investigations with the company and regulatory authorities in India.
WHO recommends that all countries detect and remove these products from circulation to prevent further harm to patients.
The Ministry of Health has sent hundreds of young people through a house-to- house campaign to collect the suspect syrups, as a result of a partnership with the Gambia Red Cross Society.
The Medical Research Council of Gambia has also issued an alarm.
We admitted a child with the condition acute kidney injury and she has died over the last week. Prior to her arrival at our clinic, we were able to confirm that she had taken one of the drugs suspected to be causing this. The council said it had been bought at a pharmacy in Gambia. The drug has been identified as containing a significant amount of toxin that damages the kidneys irreversibly. In India, the federal regulators and state regulators of northern Haryana are conducting an inquiry into the contaminated medicines.
Four of the 23 samples tested had been found to be contaminated and India is waiting for the analysis to be shared with it, said an Indian health official who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
Phone calls to the headquarters of the drugmaker, Maiden Pharmaceutical Limited, went unanswered. Neither the Health Ministry of India nor the federal regulator responded to requests for comment from the AP.