Snakebite is arguably the world’s biggest hidden health crisis. It kills some 120,000 people every year, mostly from the world’s poorest communities in rural Africa, Asia and South America. The burden of death and disability is equivalent to that of prostate cancer or cervical cancer and greater than that of any other neglected tropical disease. Yet the problem is solvable – we need to bring snakebite treatment into the 21st century; we need innovative approaches to discovering and developing next generation snakebite treatments; and we need to build and importantly, sustain snakebite as a global health priority.
Dr Nick Cammack was appointed by the Wellcome Trust in September 2019 to lead an ambitious new £80 million programme aimed at transforming the way snakebite treatments are researched and delivered, to make them better, safer and more accessible for all.
