The World Health Organization has urged countries to prevent, detect, and respond to incidents involving substandard and counterfeit medical products.
Over the last four months, countries have reported several incidents of over-the-counter cough syrups for children containing high levels of diethylene glycol and ethylene glycol, according to the WHO.
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The contaminants are toxic chemicals used as industrial solvents and antifreeze agents that, even in small amounts, can be fatal and should never be found in medicines, according to the UN body.
The organization said in a statement, “The cases are from at least seven countries, associated with more than 300 fatalities in three of these countries. The majority are small children under the age of five.
“These contaminants are toxic chemicals used as industrial solvents and antifreeze agents that, even in small amounts, can be fatal and should never be found in medicines.
“Most are young children under the age of five. These contaminants are toxic chemicals used as industrial solvents and antifreeze agents that can be fatal even taken in small amounts, and should never be found in medicines.”
The World Health Organization issued three global medical alerts in response to these incidents.
On October 5, 2022, Medical Product Alert N°6/2022 focused on the outbreak in the Gambia, on November 6, 2022, Medical Product Alert N°7/2022 focused on Indonesia, and on January 11, 2023, Medical Product Alert No1/2023 focused on Uzbekistan.
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Because these are not isolated incidents, the WHO has urged medical supply chain stakeholders to take immediate and coordinated action.
The agency called on regulators and governments to “detect and remove from circulation in their respective markets any substandard medical product that has been identified in the WHO medical alerts referred to above as potential causes of deaths and disease.”
