As International Snakebite Awareness Day Passes, Too Little is Done to Help African Countries that Struggle in the Fight Against this Neglected Tropical Disease

In Africa, 11 percent of all snakes are considered deadly, but the resources to combat the thousands of deaths caused each year by their bites are lacking.

September 19 is International Snakebite Awareness Day. However, the countries where snake bites cause the most widespread harm lack the resources to mitigate the consequences. According to France24, in Sub-Saharan Africa, there are 314,000 reported snake bites each year and 15,000 associated deaths. 

Doctors Without Borders reports that the groups that are most vulnerable to snake bites, a neglected tropical disease, are those who live in rural areas, work and live outside, and otherwise lack access to healthcare. 

African countries also generally do not have access to healthcare workers with training in snake bite management. A 2020 study in the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygeine reported that only 12 percent of healthcare workers in Kenya, Uganda, and Zambia had relevant snake bite training. The same study reported that only 20 percent of medical facilities had snake bite treatment.

To make matters worse, these countries do not produce their own anti-venoms locally, according to AfricanNews. Kenya instead imports its antivenoms from Mexico and India. According to CNN, South Africa is the only African country currently with the capacity to produce its own antivenom.

Unfortunately, it seems that there are limited solutions on the horizon. The World Health Organization (WHO) Global Strategy Against Snakebite Envenoming struggles to obtain necessary funding. In July, in what seemed like a moment of hope, scientists in the U.K., Australia, Canada, and Costa Rica claimed they discovered a potential solution to the high costs of antivenoms: Heparin, a common, inexpensive blood thinner. According to the team of scientists, it can be used to treat necrosis caused by cobra bites. However, this hope has yet to be realized on the African continent where cobras still, according to reporting by the BBC, account for the majority of all snake bites. Testing is still ongoing before Heparin can receive approval. In the meantime, snake bites continue to kill.