LAUSR

The WHO recommends an integrated global strategy to reduce the burden of snakebite envenoming, including educational programmes that detail safe methods for high-risk tasks, better first aid strategies, training of health professionals, research in diagnostics and new management options, data collection, and improved access and distribution of antivenoms. The current crisis in antivenom availability has created an important, life-threatening therapeutic gap, especially in Africa. Increased antivenom production is needed, and novel therapeutic alternatives for conventional antivenom based on recombinant antibody technologies and new toxin inhibitors are being explored. Snakebite envenoming is a neglected tropical disease that affects 1.8–2.7 million people worldwide per year and causes 81,000–138,000 deaths.