Contagion Of Counterfeit Drugs

The World Health Organisation (2022) warned that the deaths of 66 children in the Gambia may be linked to adulterated cough syrup. In 1937, it was known that adulteration of cough syrup with diethylene glycol caused the deaths of 100 American children after consuming a contaminated medicine. In 2011, around 200 people died in Pakistan after taking contaminated heart medication. There was a time in 2014 to 2015 when more than a thousand people were hospitalized in Congo after taking a fake drug containing an antipsychotic used to treat schizophrenia. Those were few reports of counterfeit medicines causing deaths and hospitalisations and only the tip of the iceberg.