When Children Began Dying of Kidney Failure, WHO Acted Fast

An unknown illness that hospitalizes children is a parent’s nightmare. It also raises red flags within a health system. In The Gambia, when children began presenting with life-threatening kidney injuries, it was no different. Over three months, doctors attended to 78 children with similar symptoms. Approximately 8 out of 10 of those children died.

The cause was baffling to health staff. Health officials in The Gambia had not encountered an outbreak like this, and they turned to the World Health Organization (WHO) to help them investigate the origins. By activating its emergency response protocols, WHO set in motion a chain of actions that would lead them to the source of the danger.

The first step was to mobilize an incident management team within The Gambia, supported by WHO’s regional office in Brazzaville and its headquarters in Geneva. Aided by US$ 470,000 from the WHO Contingency Fund for Emergencies, WHO took the lead in investigating the crisis. Both patient samples and drug samples were sent to laboratories in Senegal, Ghana, France, and Switzerland for testing.

The team also engaged an Emergency Medical Team from neighboring Senegal to help treat and care for more than 700 patients. Meanwhile, a pattern began to emerge. By comparing clinical data and tracing the pattern of illness, experts began to suspect that medication was the cause of the children’s illnesses.

Ten days after receiving the call from The Gambia’s health ministry, WHO confirmed that four children’s over-the-counter medicines, including cough syrups for babies, were contaminated. Laboratory analysis of samples showed they contained dangerously high levels of diethylene glycol and ethylene glycol, a chemical also used in antifreeze.

A nationwide recall of the contaminated medicines followed, and WHO worked with the health ministry and partners to issue urgent warnings to the public through radio and TV, as well as in-person meetings. It also followed up with a global medical product alert urging other countries to detect and remove the medicines from circulation.

This story was first published by WHO in July 2022.

Invest in health for all

Helping countries respond to emergencies like this one is key to WHO’s Investment Case which sets out its aims for the next four years – to promote, protect and provide healthcare.

WHO estimates that 40 million lives will be saved with a return on investment of US $35 in economic, health and social benefits for every one dollar invested in its work.