Snakebite
An estimated 2.7 million people are bitten by venomous snakes worldwide every year, resulting in death for more than 100,000 people and life-long disfigurement and disability for 400,000 more.
Although effective treatment exists for snakebite envenoming (poisoning from snakebites), the vast majority of people aren’t able to access it. Snakebite kills more than any other disease on the World Health Organization (WHO) neglected tropical diseases list.
Médecins Sans Frontières provides antivenom treatment to patients in our clinics. The majority of snakebite patients treated by MSF were in projects in Africa and the Middle East, including countries like Central African Republic, South Sudan, Ethiopia and Yemen.