Geneva (AFP)
The World Health Organization unveiled Thursday a plan to drastically reduce death caused by snake bites, including demand for increased production of antivenoms.
Every year, nearly three million people are bitten by poisonous snakes that kill between 81,000 and 138,000 people.
Some 400,000 survivors also have severe disabilities, according to WHO.
In a report, the UN specialized agency encourages the international community to tackle this scourge, which it classified two years ago as a "neglected tropical disease".
It aims to halve the number of deaths and disability caused by snakes by 2030.
Most of the victims live in the poorest tropical regions and children are the most directly affected because of their small constitution.
WHO stresses that the main weapon to combat this scourge is to significantly increase the production of quality antivenoms.
Since the 1980s, many laboratories have abandoned the manufacture of these treatments, causing a serious shortage in Africa and some Asian countries.
"Without an urgent overhaul of the market and tighter control ... a public health emergency seems imminent," warns the WHO.
The agency is calling for a 25% increase in the number of antivenom manufacturers by 2030, and plans to launch a pilot project to create a global antivenom pool.
In a statement, the NGO Doctors Without Borders hailed this plan, which "could be a turning point" in the fight against this calamity, which "is more dead than any other neglected tropical disease of WHO".
? 2019 AFP