Nick Ballon/Wellcome Trust
Extracting snake venom
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Improving treatment for snakebite patients

WHO supports countries and regions to:

Build capacity for treatment:
Reducing the problem of snakebite envenoming begins by improving education about its risk and providing training to medical staff and health-care workers in affected countries.
WHO supports the development of standard treatment guidelines for medical professionals and health-care workers. WHO also participates in the creation of additional training resources for regions and countries adapted to service delivery environments and availability of local resources.

Provide early access to safe, affordable and effective antivenoms:
Improving access to antivenoms is essential to minimize morbidity and mortality and is a major component of WHO’s strategy to prevent and control snakebite envenoming. 
Antivenoms remain the only treatment available to prevent or reverse the effects of snakebite envenoming when administered early and in adequate therapeutic doses. They are included in WHO’s Model List of Essential Medicines.

Strengthen diagnostics tests and tools:
Developing new point-of-care diagnostic tools has considerable potential to enhance surveillance of snakebite envenoming by enabling retrospective identification in pathology samples of venom immunotypes from various species of snakes. 
Strengthened diagnostic tests and tools can improve the reporting of snakebite envenoming and assist in determining optimal antivenom needs for regions.

Raise awareness of snakebite rehabilitation:
Increasing awareness of snakebite envenoming as an important public health problem with organizations that work with disabled people in the developing world is essential to improving access and equity for victims. Snake bites can cause a variety of disabilities potentially leading to substantial loss of limb use or even amputation. In some countries victims become mired in poverty and may be socially ostracized. 

 

 

Snakebite - test

Currently, only one commercial diagnostic test available.

Up to 138 000 deaths

estimated per year

Almost 7400 people every day are bitten by snakes, and 220–380 people die as a result.

Read more

400 000

snakebite envenoming victims left with permanent disabilities each year

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Related activities

Preventing and controlling snakebite envenoming

Preventing and controlling snakebite envenoming

DJ Williams
Young agricultural workers in poor communities are prone to snakebites
© Credits

Overview

Unlike some neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), snakebite envenoming is impossible to eliminate. Venomous snakes play important roles in complex ecosystems, including the natural biological containment of agricultural pest bioburden (e.g. rodents). However, snakebite envenoming can be effectively controlled and its physical, psychological and socioeconomic impacts reduced through innovative and intensified disease management, commensurate investment in new diagnostic, treatment and control tools, and improved access to a well-regulated portfolio of safe, affordable and clinically effective antivenoms.

WHO is mandated to direct and coordinate global action on snakebite envenoming, as requested by Member States in resolution WHA71.5 adopted by the World Health Assembly in May 2018.

WHO had launched its strategy for prevention and control of snakebite envenoming on 23 May 2019.
The strategy places countries at the centre of a coordinated global response by setting priorities focused on outcomes and impact and aligns with targets set by WHO’s 13th General Programme of Work and the Sustainable Development Goals. 

 

Publications

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Progress in snakebite envenoming 
data reporting: challenges and 
opportunities

BackgroundSnakebite envenoming represents a critical yet neglected global health issue, disproportionately affecting impoverished, rural populations...

Target product profiles for animal plasma-derived antivenoms: antivenoms for treatment of snakebite envenoming in 
south Asia

We describe here WHO public-benefit Target Product Profiles (TPPs) for antivenoms intended to be used for treatment of snakebite envenoming in South Asia,...

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