Health | WHO: Dozens of children are suspected to have died in Gambia due to tainted cough medicine

of the UN The World Health Organization (WHO) on Wednesday issued a global warning against four cough medicines from an Indian pharmaceutical company. Cough medicines are suspected of causing the death of at least 66 children in the West African Gambia.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus according to the tainted cough medicines manufactured by Maiden Pharmaceuticals are believed to have caused children, among other things, fatal kidney injuries.

The Gambia’s Ministry of Health urged hospitals in September to stop using paracetamol expectorants after nearly 30 children died of kidney failure.

According to the information received by the WHO from the Indian authorities, the company would have supplied the tainted cough medicines only to Gambia. However, due to, among other things, the illegal drug trade, it is possible that cough medicines have ended up in other countries as well.