A global health trust is to inject 80 million pounds into finding more modern and effective treatments for snakebites - a"hidden health crisis" that kills 120,000 people a year and maims thousands more.The project, launched by Britain's Wellcome Trust global health charity on Thursday, aims both to improve the world's supply of antivenoms - the only current treatment for snakebites - and to develop new and more effective drugs for the future.
A dire lack of funding for scientific research has severely limited progress in this field of medicine, leaving thousands to die unnecessarily, Lalloo told reporters at a briefing. The World Health Organization is due later this month to publish a"Snakebite Roadmap" that will aim to halve deaths and disability from snakebites by 2030.