‘Nigeria records 43,000 snakebites, 1,900 deaths annually’
The Toxinological Society of Nigeria (TSN) has raised the alarm over the high number of snakebite cases in the country, disclosing that Nigeria records about 43,000 cases every year with nearly 1,900 deaths. The figure was contained in a communiqué issued at the end of the Society’s 2nd Annual General Meeting held at the Gombe […]
The Toxinological Society of Nigeria (TSN) has raised the alarm over the high number of snakebite cases in the country, disclosing that Nigeria records about 43,000 cases every year with nearly 1,900 deaths.
The figure was contained in a communiqué issued at the end of the Society’s 2nd Annual General Meeting held at the Gombe State University.
TSN urged the Gombe State Government to dedicate at least one per cent of its Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) to snakebite control, including the free supply of anti-venom.
Experts at the meeting said children account for nearly 30 per cent of victims.
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They listed late access to treatment, high cost of anti-venom and weak health facilities in rural areas as the major causes of death and complications.
In his keynote address, Prof Abdulrazak Habib, a specialist, called for stronger collaboration between the government and the private sector to produce anti-venom locally, warning that failure to act would worsen deaths and economic losses.
Delegates who visited the Snakebite Treatment and Research Hospital in Kaltungo described it as overstretched and in need of expansion.
The Society recommended the establishment of a National Centre of Excellence for Venom, Anti-Venom and Natural Toxins Research in Gombe, and the upgrading of the Kaltungo hospital into a national referral centre.
It also called for the integration of snakebite research and training into the curriculum of Gombe State University, stressing that investment in local anti-venom production is vital to saving lives.