WHO has released an urgent “call to action” to all 194 WHO member states in order to try and prevent, detect and respond to incidences of illegitimate medical products.
Since October 2022, three countries ‒ the Gambia, Indonesia and Uzbekistan ‒ have reported children dying from Acute Kidney Injury (AKI), which resulted from them taking cough syrup containing diethylene glycol and ethylene glycol. WHO issued global medical alerts for each country, leading to products being recalled for public safety and testing by authorities.
