Devendra, who was a farmer in India, still remembers the moment a snake sank its fangs into his leg while he was picking mulberry leaves.
“I went to the hospital four days after I was bitten, when the pain became unbearable. But the delay cost me my leg,” he said in a short film released by Global Snakebite Taskforce (GST), an initiative working to reduce deaths and injuries by snakebites, reported the BBC.
But Devendra is still among the lucky few to have survived.
According to the federal government, around 50,000 Indians are killed by snakebites each year - roughly half of all deaths worldwide. Some estimates suggest the toll could be even higher: between 2000 and 2019, India may have seen as many as 1.2 million deaths, an average of 58,000 per year, a 2020 study said.
Now, a new report by GST has found that 99% of healthcare workers in India face challenges administering antivenom - the life-saving antibodies that neutralize toxins in venom.
Researchers surveyed 904 medical professionals across India, Brazil, Indonesia and Nigeria, the countries most affected by snakebites, and found similar barriers: poor infrastructure, limited access to antivenom and insufficient training.
In 2017, the World Health Organization (WHO) formally listed snakebite envenoming or poisoning as a “highest priority neglected tropical disease” because of the high number of deaths caused by it. An estimated 5.4 million people worldwide are bitten by snakes each year and more than 100,000 die from annually, according to the WHO.
It also states that snakebites disproportionately affect poor rural communities in low and middle-income countries.
In India, a high concentration of snakebite deaths and injuries are reported in the central and eastern regions, said Dr. Yogesh Jain, a GST member and practitioner in the central Chhattisgarh state. He added that people working in farms, including those from poor tribal communities, remain most vulnerable.
In 2024, India launched the National Action Plan for Prevention and Control of Snakebite Envenoming (NAPSE) with the aim to halve snakebite deaths by 2030. The plan focuses on better surveillance, improved antivenom availability and research, enhanced medical capacity and public awareness campaigns.
Experts agree it is a step in the right direction, but implementation has been inconsistent.
“In India, snakebites are seen as a poor person's problem,” Jain said. “That's why there isn't enough outrage or action over these completely avoidable deaths. When it comes to treating snakebites, every second counts.”
