The World Health Organisation has recently disclosed a new plan to cut reduce the deaths from snake bites and injuries, foreseeing that lack of antivenoms could lead to a “public health emergency” soon.
Every year, nearly three million people are bitten by poisonous snakes, with an estimated 81,000-138,000 deaths. As per the WHO statistics, the 400,000 snakebite survivors suffer permanent disabilities and other after-effects. The UN health agency had urged the international community to take steps to confront the problem which it warned had long been dangerously underestimated and neglected.
Two years ago, WHO categorised the “snakebite envenoming” as a Neglected Tropical Disease and now presented a strategy aimed at cutting snakebite-related deaths and disabilities in half by 2030.
Most of the snakebite victims around the world live in tropical and poorest regions, and children are worse affected due to their smaller body size. Production of life-saving antivenoms has been stranded by a number of companies since the 1980s. Also, the availability of effective and safe products is disastrously low, especially in Africa. Asia also faces the same crisis.
An important part of the strategy is to significantly boost the production of quality antivenoms. WHO has also planned a pilot project to create a global antivenom stockpile. “Without urgent reshaping of the market, greater regulatory control and other measures, a public health emergency is imminent,” the WHO report warned.
The UN agency called for “the restoration of a sustainable market for snakebite treatment”, insisting on the need for a 25-per cent increase in the number of competent manufacturers by 2030. Snake venom can cause paralysis that stops breathing, bleeding disorders that can lead to fatal haemorrhage, irreversible kidney failure and tissue damage that can cause permanent disability and limb loss.
Source: Economic Times Health