More than 63,000 people die every year worldwide from snakebite

The poisonous snakes they kill about 63,400 people every year, most in South Asia and especially in India. However, global snakebite mortality has fallen by around 36% since 1990, according to a new international scientific study.

The researchers of the Australian James Cook University, led by Professor Richard Franklin, who made the relevant publication in the scientific journal “Nature Communications”, however, do not hope that the World Health Organization’s (WHO) goal of halving the number of deaths from snakes by the 2030. This is mainly attributed to the insufficient education of the population and the lack of appropriate medicines in developing countries, especially in their rural areas. In fact, due to the perennial increase in world population, It is expected that in absolute numbers annual deaths from snakes worldwide will increase to over 68,000 by 2050.

Most annual deaths are recorded in India (51,100 in 2019 or about 80% of the total), in Pakistan (2,070), Nigeria (1,460) and the Republic of Congo (545). More generally, the wider South Asian region, from Afghanistan to Sri Lanka, is the most dangerous for fatal snake encounters, followed by sub-Saharan and central Africa. In India the mortality was estimated at four snakebite deaths per 100,000 people, compared to the world average of 0.8 deaths/100,000.

The researchers pointed out that the chance of death increases if anti-venom medicine is not administered within the first six hourss from the bite. However, in South Asia and North Africa many snake victims seek help from traditional healers and sorcerers, while often hospitals do not have the necessary treatment, with all that this may entail.

RES-EMP

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