By: Nyima Sillah
Following the outbreak of Acute Kidney Injury (AKI) in The Gambia which has reportedly claimed the lives of sixty-nine children in the country, Child fund The Gambia in partnership with Health and Safety Authorities trained 57 frontline staff in the process of recalling the reported syrups.
The capacity building training gathered various participants of frontline staff from different regions across the country which was held on Saturday in Brikama.
In her opening statement, Child Fund Director, Musu Kuta Komma outlined the objective of the training which centred on recalling the contaminated syrups in the entire households across the country and also to sensitise the public.
“We have lost sixty-six children, and we cannot allow that number to increase. We are taking a deliberate standard to whatever it takes to ensure that the number stops at 66. We are prepared and we are going to work towards that,’’ she assured.
As a coordinating mechanism, she said the first thing they thought could be done is to retrieve those medications to avoid further consumption and there is need for urgent action to be taken to avoid such scenarios in the future.
An epidemiologist at the department of Epidemiology and Disease Control unit at the Ministry of Health, Lamin Manneh assured the ministry’s commitment to recall the contaminated syrups with the help of The Gambia Red Cross Society.