Nigerian Facing Antivenom Access Crisis – Oyawoye

Health communicator and public health professional Adesola Oyawoye has emphasised the need to prioritise access to antivenom for snakebite victims to prevent deaths.

She disclosed this yesterday following the recent death of a young woman, Ifunanya Lucy Nwangene, from a snakebite in Abuja, which has reignited concerns about access to antivenom and emergency care in Nigerian health facilities.

She said, “Timely investment in antivenom and emergency readiness is not only smart economics; it is a moral imperative. Snakebite envenoming is classified by the World Health Organisation as a neglected tropical disease, killing between 81,000 and 138,000 people worldwide each year and leaving many more permanently disabled. In Nigeria, the Toxinological Society estimates approximately 43,000 snakebite cases annually, resulting in about 1,900 deaths, mostly among rural farmers, women, and children.

“Experts say most of these deaths are preventable with timely access to antivenom, yet supply remains uneven. Healthcare workers report challenges with storage, administration, and availability of antivenom, which is often stocked only in tertiary hospitals rather than local health centres, contributing to treatment delays.”

She said investing in antivenom is cost-effective. “A 2017 study in PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases estimated that expanding access in Nigeria could save a life for roughly US$2,330 and prevent serious disability for about US$100 per disability-adjusted life year (DALY),” she said.

She recommended establishing regional antivenom hubs in high-incidence areas, training frontline health workers in emergency protocols, strengthening supply chains, and improving data collection on snakebite incidence and outcomes to guide policy decisions, adding that the tragedy of Nwangene’s death highlights gaps in Nigeria’s emergency care system and the consequences of delayed access to lifesaving treatment, underscoring the urgent need for policy action.