Experts at the 2nd Annual General Meeting of the Toxinological Society of Nigeria (TSN) have revealed that Nigeria records about 43,000 snakebite cases every year, leading to nearly 1,900 deaths.
They added that children account for 30 per cent of victims.
The theme of the meeting, which was held between September 14 and 17 at Gombe State University, was: ‘Exploring indigenous anti-venom development and therapy in Nigeria: Policies, challenges and opportunities.’
With over 1,000 participants in attendance, including policymakers, clinicians, researchers, traditional leaders, and students, they identified delayed treatment, high cost of anti-venom, and inadequate facilities, especially in rural areas as key factors worsening outcomes.
They, therefore, called on the federal and state governments to invest in local anti-venom production and strengthen healthcare facilities to curb the rising burden of snakebite envenoming across the country.
In his keynote address, Prof. Abdulrazak Habib stressed the urgent need for government and private sector collaboration in developing indigenous anti-venom, warning that failure to act would worsen mortality rates and economic losses.
Delegates also visited the Snakebite Treatment and Research Hospital in Kaltungo, describing it as overstretched and in dire need of expansion.
The society recommended establishing a National Centre of Excellence for Venom, Anti-venom, and Natural Toxins Research in Gombe, and upgrading the Kaltungo hospital into a fully equipped National Snakebite Hospital with modern equipment, surveillance systems, and training capacity.
It further urged the Gombe State Government to dedicate at least one percent of its internal revenue to snakebite response, including free anti venom distribution, and to integrate snakebite research and training into the curriculum of Gombe State University.