by
Jan 26. 2020
Kenyan Team to Stop Snakebites
Snakebites are common in Kenya and the number of deaths are probably higher than reported, since only few victims are able to make them to hospital. Kenyans seem to accept that the deaths caused by snakebites are an unsolvable problem.
Vaccine maker Sanofi Pasteur stopped making antivenom medicines for African snakes in 2010, due to low demand and profitability. It is a private company which can survive by making profit, so the government should financially support the company to save lives.
However, many areas still remain as tribal rural villages that are far from civilized cities, so the government may not have enough money to build healthcare infrastructure facilities all over the country. It seem not able to support antivenom researches and distribution. So, it is common for families take victims to traditional healers. They might be the most approachable remedy for rural victims.
Some people might say the civilization of the whole county and the demolition of snake habitats are a possible solution, since most of countries have less snakes, so they are much safer. It sounds right, but every county has a unique ecosystem, in which each animal plays a certain role in the food chain for it to run continuously. On that account, though snakes look threatening and useless, they do play an important role for the ecosystem such as controls the number of rodents and birds, the excessive number of which could be harm for humans and the nature.
One-Writing-A-Day Challenge, No. 3/1000
